


Days of Exile

by The28thAurora



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Ben Solo Deserved Better, Ben Solo really likes tea, Cuddling & Snuggling, Devoted Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Domestic Fluff, Epilogue, Eventual Sex, Existential Crisis, F/M, Fairytale elements, Figuring it out the hard way, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Happy Ending, I need someone to show me my place in all this, Love takes time, Multi, Original Character(s), Slight Canon-Divergence, Slow Burn, That's Not How The Force Works, Virgin Ben Solo, Virgin Rey (Star Wars), finding happiness, fluff with plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:21:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 98,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22343998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The28thAurora/pseuds/The28thAurora
Summary: Ben Solo survived the Battle of Exegol. Now what? While the scattered Galactic Council attempts to convene and decide his fate, he must go into exile with Rey (who's technically supposed to be his sole body guard). Rey doesn't know what political exile normally entails, but she's pretty sure it's not supposed to practically be a vacation with her dyad in the Force (and possibly more) at a palace, on a planet that is vibrant and springing with life – not to mention, possesses family history ties for both of them.Self-discovery and hi-jinks ensue as darkness looms on the horizon.
Relationships: Finn/Rose Tico (mentioned), Poe Dameron & Finn, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 96
Kudos: 96





	1. Prologue

Prologue.

Ben Solo had heard voices all his life.  
  
For certain, some were quite normal. His conscious, for one, usually sounded like him – at least in the beginning, when he was younger, bolder, less afraid. The voice of his conscious, as such, always spoke in a higher octave than he, a time-capsule of his younger self – his own low drawl always caught him off-guard whenever he deemed it necessary to vocalize a threat or an order.  
  
In the early days of his debate classes, when he was just shy of eleven years-old, the logical voices in his mind took on the gently instructive, firm tone of his mother – not unlike the voice she'd assumed when she first taught him about diplomacy, conflict resolution, or some-such shows of political compassion.  
  
Very rarely did his mind borrow the dulcet baritone of his wandering father to offer him advice, but it was always there, mostly when he was fifteen or sixteen and getting angrier at his absence every day – always stubbornly on the edge of his awareness when he handled a blaster and compulsively checked the safety, or negotiated the worn controls of a TIE fighter to carry out complex maneuvers that no sane pilot would attempt.  
  
  
And for several years, of course, the loudest voice in Ben's head had been that of his uncle's, sharing everything with him in every waking hour, from war anecdotes to cautionary tales of the deceased Jedi Council, to burned-in reminders about the upkeep and cleaning of his training robes, his lightsaber, his living quarters, _Benjamin Solo, if I hear you've lost your cloak down the side of a mountain again because you were hunting howlers, I SWEAR_ – but the words that stuck with him the most were the ones said in passing, the pearls that Luke himself would never have deigned to consider 'words of wisdom.'  
  
_Always keep your eyes on the center of your opponent, Ben, everything motion starts at the hips, the shoulders, the chest. If you catch even the smallest of movements there, you can predict where they're going to go next..._  
_The best thing to do when your angry with someone is leave them well alone. Space and time will help cool even the fieriest tempers, making negotiation much more plausible..._  
_Compassion is more than the way of the Jedi, it is a skill that must be worked at and practiced every day. Begin by looking in the eyes of strangers, the poor, the weary – ask them to tell you of their troubles, listen to their tales, and most importantly, reciprocate their vulnerability. They will open up their hearts to you in turn..._  
_Never forget that it isn't 'Jedi mind control,' it's Jedi psychological influence. It's not as fancy or powerful sounding, but that is exactly the point. It's about making the opponent you're trying to influence believe they have all the power, that they're the one in charge..._  
  
  
And, most prominently, was the lesson Uncle Luke had given him at dinner, at a fire-pit far away from the other students, the night he had tried to kill him in his sleep. Ben would not soon forget the eerie flicker of the firelight across his uncle's lined face, the shadows snagging at his familiar form.  
_It's not about learning to control your emotions, control is an illusion. It's about understanding your feelings – by all means, experience them to the fullest, feeling is a consequence of being alive. But then, let them pass. You can't stop the impulse of your thoughts, but a well-trained Jedi never acts on impulse – he is compassionate and well-ordered when it comes to his choices._  
  
  
But by then, Luke's words were falling on deaf ears. In those days, the noises in Ben's head hadn't stopped in some five years – at least. Voices of rigid fury at his father's absence. Voices of pitiful sadness at his mother's distance. An ever-increasing sense of betrayal as Luke pushed him further and further back in his training – gradually refusing him practical lessons, insisting he stick to the books, separating him from the other padawans.   
He felt like an exile in his own home.   
  
  
He was a Skywalker, his uncle's temple was just about his birthright. But every time Luke looked at him, he sensed it in his uncle's mind, raw and vivid though he tried desperately to disguise it. An undercurrent, a flash of red light. Fear.  
  
Fear of him, his nephew, the next male in the Skywalker lineage. A powerful force to reckoned with, everyone knew it. He was the top of his class, always had been, had gone undefeated in mock combat for years.  
  
  
Ben was never a particularly imaginative child – he had always preferred being behind the over-sized controls of a real X-Wing to owning a toy version and playing pretend with it – but he was beginning to remember and revel in his dreams.  
Dreams of flying, fighting, graduating, becoming a Jedi Master. Sometimes they just left him with an electric feeling of confidence or pride when he woke. Sometimes they were elaborate technicolor fantasies where he beat his father's legendary Kessel Run parsec record, won a kiss from that attractive scarlet-haired senior padawan girl, and held up his gilded trophy and family name with a grace and humility that did both Organas and Solos proud.  
  
Those were the worst of all, because when he awoke he was always gutted when he remembered how that was impossible. The one constant that Ben Solo had carried with him all his life was that he would never live up to his parent's legacies.  
  
This was his poisonous truth, his darkest thought he quickly learned to hide from all, especially his concerned, or else uncaring, parents.   
It was his permanent chip on his shoulder. Or so he thought.  
  
  
Luke was hiding something from him, he knew it, felt it in his very core. His training accelerated again as he achieved a new-found focus, an uncanny ability to bottle up his anger that almost scared Luke more than any outburst would have. He was becoming a creature of habit, a perfect machine. Ben was hell-bent, he would find out Luke's secret and bring the stifling of his potential to light. At least, that's what a new line of thought was telling him, a new voice – a voice of purpose and ambition, a gray smokey whisper that fueled him beyond anything he had ever known.  
  
  
All it took was a stormy night and a window that he'd cracked open after sweeping the temple's altar room that afternoon. He didn't worry about muddy footprints – he leapt agilely from the window sill to the fountain at the center of the room, slowing his descent with the aid of the Force to prevent a loud splash and sloshing through the water to cleanse his boots of the mud. The lock on the copper alloy, curlicue gates to the restricted section of the library was utterly unresponsive to Force-picking – fortunately for Ben, Luke forgot for a moment just exactly who Ben's father was. Still, the hairpin was bent into an accordion by the time the gate swung open with a soft whistle.  
  
It was nearly the gray light of a drizzly morning by the time Ben had finished pouring through all the crumbling, yellowed texts and holocrons, and still, nothing. He had known Luke's harbored truth had something to do with his heritage, so he searched every text for mentions of famous Solos or Organas or Skywalkers, but besides one passing mention of his war-hero grandfather, there were no history books from that long ago that were concerned with lineage and family trees – at least, not his anyway. He'd been about to give up and crawl back out the window and into his warm bed in the hope of catching at least an hour or two of sleep before the day's training began when his fingers caught on an odd impression in the wooden shelf he was returning the holocron cubes to.  
  
He felt the sharp edges of a square panel and pushed it. The back of the shelf popped open with a soft groan from the wood, revealing a hidden rectangular alcove, no bigger than his arm, and within it a dusty, thin volume, bound in red leather.  
  
Pulse quickening, Ben snatched up the book and flipped through it with furious intensity, his anger quickly bringing his blood to a boil. Blank, blank, blank, how could every page in this damned secret book be blank?!  
Ripping open to the middle page of the tiny notebook revealed a similarly tiny, circular incision, cut through each page, clear through to the back half of the book. In it was laid a holo-disk, the kind used to record a rather large amount of video data. In short, Ben dared to hope, his temperature dropping back to normal, the truth he was searching for.  
He pocketed it and returned the book, restoring the shelf to it's normal state, and the lock to the gate. He clambered out the window, slunk down the hill, in through his cabin's back door, and though he tried, couldn't sleep a wink.  
  
  
He was on edge the entire day, desperately awaiting the following nightfall when he could view what was on the disk in the peace of his private cabin. Fortunately, Luke didn't question his shorter than usual temper, as Ben was miraculously awake and alert – his Master had patience enough for the both of them that day, and Luke always allowed for an off-day every now and again with his students. He was not so near-sighted then that he had forgotten what human weakness was like.  
  
  
Ben barely ate dinner that evening in his haste to get back to his cabin. He stormed into the two-room hut, comprising a combination kitchen and bedroom, and a tiny bathroom, still-wet hair flying. He rounded on the cylindrical, metal holo-projector that stood, inconveniently, dead in the middle of the cabin, and jammed the disk into the card reader slot, the blinding blue light projector powering on. He pulled up a rickety chair with the Force with the command of one hand and locked the door to his cabin with the other, heart pounding against his ribs. A tiny projection of a gorgeous young women appeared before his eyes.  
  
  
She cleared her throat and smiled, painfully awkwardly.  
  
“ _The date is 22 BBY, and my name is Padmé Amidala. What follows is the chronicles of my time as Queen of Naboo and Senator to the Galactic Council, for the benefit of my own personal reference and reflection._ ” The painful smile dropped and she brought up a tiny hand to compulsively smooth down her hair. “ _Force, I hate the sound of my own voice._ ”  
  
The digital woman stopped the recording, and the next file promptly began to play, featuring a much younger version of the same woman, no older than fourteen.  
As the hours grew long and late, Ben Solo watched the progressively maturing diaries of the former queen unfold, at first curious, then annoyed, then finally, obsessively enraptured. All it took was one name to grab his attention.  
  
Anakin Skywalker.  
  
His grandfather, the war hero, the Jedi Master, in a surprisingly succinct four hours, was torn apart and revealed to be nothing more than a farce, a facade. It became abundantly clear – even before Padmé revealed to her digital confidant the possible names she had chosen for her future child – as Padmé gushed and sobbed over feelings of infatuation and love and heartbreak, and time passed, and her belly grew full and round with life, that he was watching the life story of his grandmother. And his grandfather? He hadn't, in fact, been murdered by a Sith, as his uncle and mother had claimed. He had become one, the worst of them all, it seemed, powerful enough to join with this mysterious character of Chancellor Palpatine, whom Padmé only mentioned by name a handful of times.  
  
Padmé's last entry would have palpably resonated with the energy of her sorrow, even without her tears.  
  
“ _I don't know what's happened to him. I don't think he's himself anymore. I want to help him, but something in him has become so lost, so dark, I don't know if I can reach him anymore_.” She dissolved into sobs for a moment. “ _If this is the last time I see him, if this is the last anyone hears from me, I want you to know he was good, once. He was capable of love...I loved him._ ”  
  
  
  
His holo-projector fan's incessant whirring slowed to a stop, and Ben, numb, stumbled over to his bed and collapsed.   
  
  
His dreams were dark, disturbing and angry, a black and red thundercloud of a dream, restless and haunting, and when he woke he was no longer the same. Ben saw before him a new path that he had never before considered, because despite not being an imaginative child, Ben was every bit his mother when it came to hope.   
  
His soul was alight with it, glimmering and shimmering with iridescent hope, ever the optimist who saw the best in others. But the years of expectations, from his mother, his uncle, his teachers, his friends (when he'd been fortunate enough to have them), and even his dead-beat father, had worn away at his hope for himself, for a bright future, sparkling with success and ease, allowing something dark and sinister to creep in, devour his hope, and leave something else in its place.  
  
  
  
Ben Solo could never hope to be greater than his parents – he would forever live in their shadows. 

But Ben Solo went to sleep that night, and never woke up.   
  
  
  
A new name had planted itself easily in his mind, as if it had always been there, waiting to be called upon when dawn came. Over breakfast, he had stared down the ignorant child who dared call him otherwise. The padawan two years his junior gulped down the mouthful of porridge he'd been talking through at the sight of two black, icy pools holding him captive and freezing him from the inside.  
  
  
“Call me Kylo.” he ordered, his voice reaching a new, guttural low, that echoed around the room loud enough for all to hear, despite his low volume. And somewhere, in the back of Kylo's mind, far beyond the gray wisps of ambition, behind the dark dread of failure to his family name, deep in the darkness of anger and power that had taken root overnight, he heard high, cackling, sinister laughter.


	2. I.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben wakes up on a medical shuttle after the Battle of Exegol.

I.

Ben Solo had heard voices all his life.

But, somehow, everything was quiet now. Eerily quiet, peacefully quiet.

He'd forgotten how much he liked the quiet. All he'd heard for the better part of a decade had been agonizing, white-hot noise – or else, deafening, murderous, blackened silence.

He let his eyes stay closed as he dragged in calm, deep breaths. He was in no hurry to wake up, was he? No duties to attend to, no audiences with his Master, no meetings on his docket...

No, he decided, nothing important enough that he could remember, anyway...

Calm. That was another emotion he hadn't felt for a long time either. He was really, truly, at peace. His lips twitched in an unfamiliar, compulsive action, the corners of his mouth attempting to stretch, to move.

It hit him harder than a falling tree.

His body was attempting to smile – it automatically felt happy at this profound sense of calm.

Happiness...it was so unfamiliar an emotion that it almost made him panic.

Supreme Leaders didn't feel happiness. He wasn't allowed to, he had to keep it all in check, like he did in the early days, training under Snoke – trample your positive feelings under your boot until you no longer have to convince yourself they're no longer there. They simply won't be.

Stars forbid Hux saw through the façade he would have to throw up for days until happiness was only a vague memory again.

Only...that wasn't quite right...

Why not?

Because...Hux was dead? Maybe?

Had he killed him? That would be helpful if he had. Really excellent job, he would be glad to be rid of the bastard.

But no, the part that was off had nothing to do with Hux...

Then...he wasn't the Supreme Leader anymore? Well, maybe, though only temporarily, he wasn't actually planning on following Palpatine-

Palpatine.

The rebels.

The war.

The Sith.

Falling.

Ow.

Fighting.

Darkness.

Crawling.

Dead in his arms.

Dyad.

Rey.

Rey.

_ Rey!!! _

“ _ REY!! _ ” he roared, shooting up into a seated position, only to collapse back onto the bed with a cry of pain, his eyes scrunched tight, tears stinging in the corners. Everything hurt, particularly his leg and chest had him feeling nearly paralyzed with stabbing pains.

The sound of frantic scrambling over the white-chrome tile and warm, calloused hands engulfed his own in a second, thumbs tenderly stroking his knuckles.

Ben opened his blurry eyes and let the tears roll twin paths down his cheeks because he wanted nothing more than to see her clearly.

Her soft brown eyes were bleary and exhausted, her face smudged with dirt. When was her face not smudged with dirt?

Her hair was completely let down and loose, not a bit of it ensnared in those three signature buns of hers. Little cuts and bruises were bandaged and treated from her cheeks, down her neck, and all the way down her arms, but she was whole and warm and crying and smiling.

“You're awake...” she managed to choke out, almost cutting off the circulation in his fingers with how fiercely she held his hands, her knuckles white. He managed to wring one hand out of her grasp, only to clasp hers just as tightly, his body continuing to surprise him as his hands started to shake.

It was all coming back to him in painfully vivid flashes, like a poorly-wired projection chamber's virtual reality immersion flickering in and out of existence.

The cold, cruel, sharp stone at the bottom of the cavern against his back reminding him he was still alive.

The long climb up, sharp bursts of pain entering his palms as his cuts dripped with hot, iron-scented, salty blood from the merciless handholds.

The deafening, scrabbling, crunching drag of his useless, broken leg over the gravely floor as he stumbled and crawled and fell over to her broken body.

The supple softness of a lithe body, just starting to go brutally cold, held bone-crushingly close against his chest, his nose buried in her silken hair.

The flow of life from deep within his chest, his mind, his soul, traveling in a beautiful, golden, starlight stream, down his arm, out of his hand and into her chest – filling up the cavern of her being, igniting the wick that had lost it's own familiar, blinding, silvery-blue glow. Her chest expanded with her breath beneath his hand and he felt the greatest peace he'd perhaps ever felt in his life. He knew then that she would be alright.

The light in her brown eyes as she arose, bringing something intangible to her smile, something he could only call 'lovely' as she murmured his name, with hope, with kindness, with happiness intended for him to see.

The feeling of her lips suddenly against his, warm and soft, just like the touch of her hand against his cheek. It had been gentle and caring, and altogether something he felt he didn't deserve, but his relief that she was alive and that they had worked together as he always,  _ always _ knew they should and that they were finally aligned in their purpose, didn't have to fight anymore, could stand together, as one, was so joyful a thought that it pushed all the niggling doubts out of his head and he just kissed her back and held her close.

When weakness crept into his limbs and darkness fell over his mind, he had expected it. Welcomed it, even. The only thing that had mattered was saving Rey, he didn't particularly care what happened to him – he was free. He had left his darkness behind him, he had succeeded in killing his past. Throwing his lightsaber into the sea on Kef Bir had been Kylo Ren's funeral.

In regaining consciousness, for the first time in nearly a decade, Ben Solo had awoken.

And now he was terribly confused as to why Rey had kissed him, relieved beyond belief that he'd been dragged, kicking and screaming back to the light, and most of all, he was just really happy to see her.

His face split in two with the smile in he gave her, his second in seven long years.

“You're alive.” he said, voice thick with emotion, choking him and preventing him from saying more.

But that was enough for her.

He gladly would have pulled her down into his arms and held her as close against his wide chest as his broken ribs would allow, but in move that likely gave her whiplash, she was suddenly clutching his face and kissing him again.

Time seemed to slow and his breathing turned shallow, a warmth spilling into his chest.

It was true enough that the only voice in his head was his, now. But yet he could  _ feel _ her absolutely everywhere...

It was no longer just a presence that he could dip into and out of as the Force allowed, a life running parallel to his – it was a warm glow enveloping his very mind, sewn into his marrow, coiled around his heart, her consciousness resting right alongside his, in way that he could only describe as whole and complete.

She was pleasant and warm and ecstatic with her relief. Her light was blinding, like a light fixture over-saturated with energy, but yet it didn't hurt to stare, to reach out with his own feelings and allow them to intermingle, wonderful, joyous, tender. His chest shook, not with effort, he started, but a silent laugh of relief. When was the last time he had laughed? His diaphragm felt completely out of practice.

He gently nudged his way into her mind. He'd have said something, but she was still holding his mouth hostage, with more pressure than was necessary, he might add.

_ I missed you too. _

_Don't ever scare me like that again._

Her response was as sudden as her release of his lips, but the former wasn't accompanied by a loud, puckering smack and the lingering burn of a bruised mouth.

“I thought you had died.” she said, through gritted teeth, her tears still cleansing her face of dirt, like speaking of the act was just as painful a sin as the loss itself.

“I thought I did too.” he said, risking moving an arm so he could clutch her hand, still gently stroking his face. The dull ache was worth it. “What happened?” he asked.

Rey let out a tiny humorless laugh, mopping at her eyes with her free hand.

“You had the faintest pulse, but it was there.” Rey said, her eyes going misty and distant as she recounted what had happened while he limbo-ed between worlds. “I healed what I could but I was completely drained – I don't know that I did a very good job. I could barely lift you with the Force and I had to clear a path, the underground chamber was collapsing. So...I carried you out.” she said, her tears not letting up as she shrugged matter-of-factly.

The slightest breath of laughter escaped Ben's throat.

“You carried me?” Her hand compulsively squeezed his jaw, her brow creasing horribly.

“If you're about to tell me I should've left you there, you  _ sacrificial scoun-!!! _ ” His hands scrambled and managed to gain firm purchase of both of hers.

“No – no of course not!! I only meant...” He shook his head. He had no idea what he meant – he was utterly in awe. “...You stubborn Jedi, of course you carried me.” This, at least, summoned up a watery smile from her. She sniffed.

“I jammed us into Luke's ship and flew us out of there and onto the closest medical shuttle I could find. It took a lot of negotiation, but the staff decided to treat your injuries.”

“How bad are they?” he asked, finding himself readily task-oriented and at ease with this debriefing-style conversation.

“Broken leg and fractured ribs.” she grimaced. “But you are mending quite fast.” she said, running her thumb against his cheek, prompting a little shot of warmth to his chest, and a small smile.

She let out a huge sigh, as if finally setting down a weight she'd been carrying. “And now we're traveling through hyperspace on our way to Yavin 4...where a Rebel Council is going to decide your fate...”

Ah, there it was. The unfortunate consequence of survival. He'd been grimly expecting it for a few minutes now – it couldn't all just be kisses and cuddles, though the thought of such activities was doing very strange things to his pulse and making his neck warm unnaturally.

Could she feel his discomfort? He hadn't drawn his feelings back from hers, had been content to let them swirl and shift into each other – it was too comforting for him to want to pull away, and he sensed she felt similarly about their bond, their inexplicable connection...

He cleared his throat. He was getting far too distracted.

“I see.” he said, his eyes slipping shut and brow furrowing. He decided he may as well save time and ask the hard questions. “Do you think there's even the slightest chance of avoiding a death sentence?”

“Ben-” His eyes snapped open, hazel meeting brown.

“I can repent all I want – my crimes are unspeakable. I can't take back the death and destruction I've wrought.” Each word he said was a knife to his heart, but he needed to speak the painful truth, needed to let himself feel all of it. He'd gone down such a dark road in the first place because he'd bottled up his feelings, restricted them, crushed them, slaughtered them. No more.

“I can't piece back together the lives I've destroyed. Someone has to pay for my crimes-”

“With your life?!” Rey exclaimed, panic running wild within her. He could feel her desperation to hold onto him, Force knew why, and she could feel his resignation, his desire to make amends.

“They need to have it repaid – blood for blood. The life of one monster in exchange for countless others.” he said, speaking the grim truth.

“Kylo Ren is already dead.” Rey said, shaking her head, her hands warm in his.

“I know.” he said “But I'm afraid you're the only one who understands that.” She gritted her teeth.

“I'll stand with you. I won't let them sentence you to death – there's no way in hell I'm letting them-” Her panic was a wildfire in her brain, consuming her.

The effort to reach up was painful, but Ben did it anyway in order to cup her face in his hand, feeling clumsy where her touches had all felt sweet and sincere.

“I know.” he breathed, looking deep into those brown eyes he'd grown so attached to “If there was a way I could serve out a sentence that would satisfy them, and then live free, I would. I...” All the moisture seemed to leave his mouth as he comprehended the words that had crossed him mind. He swallowed thickly.

“I don't want to leave you alone, again.” he said. Not 'I don't want to die,' but 'I don't want to leave you alone.' Surely his uncle was smiling down from wherever he was at the sight of such selflessness – he'd always been awful at putting others before himself.

“But, I doubt they'd be satisfied with anything less than a death sentence.” he whispered, though the terror of death that had doggedly followed him – like all his ghosts had, when he'd been hidden by a mask – had also suddenly fled with the pack.

Nearly dying for the right reasons tends to decrease one's fear of the empty dark.

“Not if I can help it.” Rey said, just as quick and sharp as ever, her brown orbs morphing into little coals, hot with purpose and determination.

Ben grinned, and Rey's conscious came alight, like it had caught a stray spark. He realized rather bashfully that this twirl of emotions meant she liked his smile. He even managed to catch the flattering adjectives of 'boyish' and 'charming' in her mind's eye.

“I can see this is going to take a while.” he said, almost chuckling, his diaphragm still not up to the task yet.

The smile she gave him in turn was brilliant and his conscious caught fire too.

“Well, you're finally starting to get it.” she teased.

 _There's no way you're getting rid of me_ , her whole being declared.

And the whole situation was so ridiculous, such a complete departure from everything that had happened between them, that Ben's diaphragm finally came through and he laughed for the first time in seven years – boisterous, loud and full-bellied.

The laughter quickly died in his throat as he sucked in a sharp breath, his hand shooting to his ribs.

Rey's hand immediately covered his, and barely a second passed before he felt her current of Force running into his and making the pain ebb away.

He was about to thank her for her kindness when she turned dreadfully pale.

“Lie down.” Ben ordered, heart in his throat. “Lie down right now.”

“Mmmmhrrrm...” Rey murmured, shifting from his cot to her own, just a foot away and promptly collapsing onto her side, her head just managing to fall on her pillow. Her eyes squinted open, and after a few deep breaths the color quickly to returned to her face. Ben breathed a sigh of relief.

“How long have we been in hyperspace?” he asked, turning gingerly onto his own side to face her, careful not to tug out the IV of medicine stuck in his arm, as he glanced out the med-bay window at the lines of stars streaking by.

“Two...three days maybe?” she murmured. Ben's anger flared, though it could not even remotely be compared to the exploding volcano he had used to be.

“You haven't slept for three days?!” Rey smiled guiltily.

“It wasn't for lack of trying. I was worried about you – need I remind you, you decided to play the sacrificial hero and nearly died?”

“No reason to go killing yourself over me in the process...” he murmured back, finding he was starting to grow very sleepy.

And though he suddenly sensed in her a pulse-fluttering shyness he'd never felt from her before, quite palpably in fact, she finally voiced her feelings – what they both felt.

“I need you with me. I would feel...incomplete...lost without you.” He forced open bleary eyes and her sweet, endearing gaze quite took his breath away.

And then she had the nerve to reach across the expanse between them and offer him her hand.

He chuckled weakly and promptly shut his eyes to block the traitorous tears that were more likely than not a result of his exhaustion making him more emotional, and reached out blindly, finding her hand readily, truly feeling it for the first time.

His fingers traced her skin, studiously slow, as he memorized what he had barely felt across space-time when the Force connected them on Ahch-To.

Callouses on her fingertips, hardened by years of work, ebbing into a smooth, softer palm.

Knuckles and veins, bones and cartilage, arranged in such a way that it was entirely unique to her. It was a contrasting balance he already knew well, it was intrinsic to her – gentle and strong, tough and kind.

He gently traced the lines of her palm, prompting breathy giggles to fill the silence, but he didn't tease. He wrapped her fingers warmly in his own and held her hand tight.

He searched for words to say back, as he drifted between sleeping and waking.

He had no idea how to phrase everything that was going through his mind, this essential loyalty to her, this desire to go through thick and thin with her, to always be by her side.

He was hesitant to jump straight to love.

Love seemed too commonplace a word – he wanted to protect and support her and he certainly didn't mind her kisses but...love?

It was still too foreign, too vague a concept to him, who'd only known hate and anger for so long.

“I would never leave you.” was what he decided to whisper back just before he nodded off, and hopefully, for now, that would do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated. :)


	3. II.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey wakes up to someone holding her hand, and she can't say that she really minds.

II.

Rey Palpat – no...

...Just Rey...had been alone all her life.

She was used to staring at blank, empty walls of cobbled-together wrought iron, or dusty sandstone shelters when she cracked open her eyes each broiling morning.

She was used to hollow hovels that carved chunks out of her being because each new day was an acknowledgment that such houses could never be homes when she was the sole, abandoned inhabitant.

She was used to waking to weariness in her limbs, the ache from the previous day's work, to dark, hopeless thoughts gathering like her personal phantoms in her mind.

She was entirely unaccustomed to waking to warmth in her limbs, a gentle joy in her mind.

As her circadian rhythm gradually nudged her awake, her senses began to reach out and notice the tiny details – the sterile, chemical smell of the med-bay, the polyester clingyness of the sheets to her skin, the hum of the engines still traveling at the incomprehensible speeds of hyperspace travel, the digging of her leather belt into her sides.

And, rising above it all, the sensation that almost made her jump out of her skin – supple fingers gently stroking her hand, her arm still stretched out between the cots, muscles aching from the lack of support, yet still unwilling to move.

The shock of waking helped her mind regain awareness of him all around her, his essence encapsulating her like a warm hug.

The immediacy of his presence was still going to take some getting used to, the direct line to his thoughts and emotions a little too unnerving and voyeuristic for her liking.

Still, it was easier to nudge a greeting into their bond than to make her sleepy body attempt to speak just yet.

_Good morning..._ her Force murmured, in way she hoped came across as charming instead of monstrously groggy. She slowly became mesmerized by the invisible patterns his fingers traced over the back of her hand and down her fingers.

What a peculiar thing it was to feel him smile in her mind, warm and inviting. Stranger still was the rush of warm chills that spread up over her shoulders in response and left pleasant tingles down her arms in their wake.

_Good morning,_ he murmured back, his voice similarly relaxed and quiet in her mind, ever the low baritone. _I take it you slept well?_

_Brilliantly, thank you,_ she said, still not quite ready to open her eyes.

The pads of his fingers were so tender and searching in their ministrations now that she found herself starting to shy away, a ribbon of red curling around her naïve heart.

_Can I have my hand back please?_ A tiny flare of light in the center of his essence – an internalized laugh.

_Oh, very well,_ he said, making it a point to sound as aggrieved and moody about the request as possible – though it was impossible to hide the glow of joy in his essence – as his fingers slipped away.

The puff-of-breath giggle that left her nose was a complete reflex.

She squinted one eye open and then the other, stretching out in a twisted pretzel shape on the tiny cot, tremors traveling down her arms. He lay on his side just as he had the night before, the hand that had held her captive retreating to his side, the other resting on his waist as he openly stared at her. The tiniest smile stayed on his lips.

She sat up and stretched out her aching neck.

“I hope you slept well, too?” she said, finally getting her abysmally groggy vocal chords into working order, just barely. He turned gingerly onto his back and dwelled on the question for a moment before his smile stretched just a tiny bit wider.

“Best sleep I've had in ages.” he said, far too casually, his essence gladly giving her all the credit for this and making her pulse quicken just a hair.

Maybe he wouldn't notice...

The med-bay doors opened with _whoosh_ and distracted Rey from her flurry of emotions as the efficient head medic with the over-sized glasses walked in. A cursory glance at Ben told him all he needed to know.

“Finally awake I see?” he muttered, already taking down readings on his data pad from the holographic chart above Ben's cot.

“He regained consciousness late last night.” Rey offered, clarifying.

“Mmmhmm,” the medic muttered, paying her only the vaguest amount of attention.

He snapped his fingers and a tiny helicopter droid with an unblinking red eye turned on in a metal post by Ben's cot and emerged from its perfectly round pod, fluttering by the medic's shoulder.

“Fully body scan, RX9.” the medic ordered, and with a subservient little squeak, the medical droid opened its red eye wide, and a red laser array shot down to Ben's body and scanned him quickly up and down, twice. Though his discomfort at the sudden invasion of privacy was palpable across the bond, Ben's face stayed resolutely neutral as he stared at the ceiling. Closing it's optic briefly when the scan was complete, the droid squeaked again.

“Progress report.” the medic said, finally looking up at the droid from his tablet.

“Tibia and fibula in the left leg are 99% repaired, ribs 7, 8, and 9 on the left side of the chest are 83% repaired, and ribs 5 and 6 on the right side of the chest are 100% repaired.” reported the droid, in a calm, low female voice, disproportionately low to the diminutive size of the floating glass eye.

“Diagnosis: six more hours of bed rest is recommended before beginning physical therapy on the leg, five days before any strenuous activity is attempted to prevent further fracturing in the healing ribs.”

“He's well ahead of schedule, then,” the medic nodded curtly, eyes returning to his tablet for a moment. Rey smiled in relief, happy to hear Ben was recovering so quickly.

Perhaps her rushed Force-healing had done some good after all.

“Return to sleep mode.” the medic ordered, and the droid promptly retreated to her pod, stuffing herself inside and shutting her eye.

The medic fluttered over to the nearest medicine cart, muttering over the readings on his tablet before selecting a pre-mixed IV bag and returning to Ben's beside to switch out his pain-killers.

“We'll be arriving on Yavin 4 in roughly six hours,” the medic said, far too casually for Rey's liking “at which point we'll have to cuff you and you can attempt to put weight on that leg and walk off this ship.”

The medic jammed the fresh needle into Ben's arm with a force that made him wince and Rey bristle with rage, but neither said anything.

“It is in my professional opinion that you should sleep as much possible in the time that remains aboard this shuttle.” he continued, removing two frozen meals in metallic trays from the icebox in the neighboring room and placing them in the squat, round re-heater just next to the med-bay window.

“That goes for you, too.” the medic added, offering Rey unwanted advice.

It wasn't until the meals emerged from the machine, steaming, and were placed on a dining cart between them that the medic spoke again.

“Off the record though, if you can't sleep, I seriously advise you use your remaining hours to organize your case for the Rebel council. As a doctor it is my duty to heal and do no harm – as such, I have to treat every patient, including...” he hesitated, and Rey openly glared at him, daring him to say something cruel.

“...prisoners of war.” he decided, hurrying on. “You're going to need every bit of preparation you can get to convince the council to treat you similarly.” And with that, he left the room.

Rey jammed her fork into her leafy greens with extraneous force.

“What was that supposed to be? Helpful advice?” she seethed, stuffing the food into her mouth. Ben risked sitting up to eat with a strained groan, but he managed the motion and attempted to placate Rey's terrified, wide eyes with a wave of his hand.

“I suppose he thought it was.” he muttered, digging into his food as well. “At any rate, it's much kinder treatment than I expected, not to mention deserved.” he said, taking a hesitant bite of whatever cooked poultry was marinating in his tray, and then practically inhaling his food in the rush to eat.

Though he'd had a second IV in his arm for the first two days of his coma, providing him with a steady stream of nourishment, his body had no doubt been craving solid food.

The minutes stretched as they ate in silence, Rey saddened by the resignation in Ben's mind. He'd already given up, in a way, was expecting the worst from those he'd hurt.

That had been the way he'd survived, she supposed, ever the realist, acutely aware of the odds, and acting in response to impossibilities with surgical tact, twisting reality in his favor.

She had a few bites and quickly lost her appetite over a combination of worry over his fate and a tightness in her side she couldn't place. She set her fork down and let her hand stray over to her side, clutching at the ache.

The flare of Ben's concern in her mind prompted her to look up.

“What's hurting you?” he murmured, swallowing the last mouthful of food, hazel eyes intently searching for the source of her pain. Rey's brow furrowed as she kneaded the troublesome spot.

“I have no idea.” she said, perplexed. “It's this squeezing in my side, like my lung's too big for my chest, and this pain like – having a pinched nerve that won't go away-” Then it hit her. Brown eyes met hazel. “It's you.” His eyebrow's shot up and his shoulders scrunched together slightly, as she felt a heat like warm honey being poured down her throat – the sensation of his guilt.

“I'm sorry.” he murmured, sincere and without a trace of irony. She chuckled sweetly.

“Ben, there's nothing to apologize for, it's not like you're trying to hurt me. I'm just feeling the ache of your ribs across the bond, that's all.” But his guilt stayed a palpable, bitter taste in her throat – he was sick of hurting her, absolutely done with causing her pain, she started.

He'd done enough of that to last him a lifetime.

“But I made you lose your appetite.” he said, guarded in his words where his feelings were transparent.

Now it was Rey's turn to be surprised. He could sense that too? Were all the secrets of her thoughts just his to peruse now? His discomfort thrummed.

_ I'm sorry, Rey, I was under the impression that you liked my presence...I can pull away if you changed your mind? _

He was already drifting back across their bond, her mental space emptying of feelings that weren't hers. She leapt after him, tendrils of light, reaching.

_ No! It's okay – don't go. _

A glimmer of moonlight, his sigh of relief, and his spirit wrapped around hers again, so effortlessly warm and sweet.

Shame his ribs were broken, or she'd replicate the motion physically.

“My ribs aren't... _ that  _ broken...” he said, his uncertainty in flirtation making the offer that much more adorable.  Heat rushed to her cheeks and she almost could slap herself in annoyance that her body was betraying her so.

“Don't be ridiculous, I don't want to even risk hurting you more.” she said, trying to snuff out her shyness by taking to action, nudging the cart out of the way and standing up.

“Now stop straining yourself and lie back down.” He quirked an eyebrow at her commanding him, but didn't argue.

Once he was reclined she sat on the edge of his cot, her hands coming to rest ever so gingerly on his chest. Ben almost slapped her hands away.

“What do you think you're doing?” he exclaimed, the sight of her nearly passing out the night before vivid in his mind's eye. Rey threw up her hands, exasperated.

“I've rested and I'm feeling recharged, and if you'll relax I'd like to see if I can do something about the remaining 27% of your ribs, if that's not too much trouble?” Though she phrased it like a question, the request left no room for argument. Ben huffed.

“If you start turning pale again I'll force you to stop.”

“Right.” Rey murmured, no longer really paying attention as she rested the pads of her fingers on his chest and meditated.

Searching her feelings had become an easy enough habit, but she doubted that she'd ever to be able to heal anyone else as readily as Ben because the dyad just made the flow of energy between them so ridiculously easy.

All it took was the slightest effort and her silvery-blue Force flowed from the center of her being, down her arms and into his chest.

It coiled and delicately wrapped around his ribs, stitching the marrow and calcium back together perfectly.

A tiny trail flowed in an ever-slow waterfall down his ribs, cresting over his hip bone and flowing down his leg, growing the tiniest missing sliver of bone back into place.

The shadow of the scar she'd given him, however, stayed right where it was, bisecting his right cheek – the kyber-inflicted wound would likely forever remain an ever-present sign of all they'd been through, all that they had fought through to reach one another.

Ben let out the smallest sigh of peace, of pain vanishing in the wake of healing comfort, and light bloomed, explosive in her mind.

For a moment, she was carried away on his current, as she had been when they'd kissed in the crater – there was no separation between them, no boundaries, no borders, no way to distinguish 'him' from 'me' and 'I' from 'she.' They were just glorious golden and silver light, swirling and mingling, one beautiful, luminous, incorporeal being. They were their dyad in the Force incarnate, a perfect balance between light and dark, beautiful and whole.

It felt like salvation, like blissful grace.

It felt like coming home.

Rey's hands shot away from Ben's chest and she was back in her body, fingers shaking for entirely different reasons from when she had first healed him of the fatal wound she'd given him. He could've been blind, deaf, and dumb, and across their bond alone he would've felt her palpable fear – he didn't need to see her saucer eyes or feel her racing pulse to know.

It was unlike anything she had ever known, this thrum of energy and life between them, this certainty that they needed to be with one another, that they completed each other. She was beyond grateful to have such a connection after a lifetime of loneliness and waiting for a family that never came – but now that she finally had a relationship like this, her body couldn't tolerate an overdose, even if her heart was more than strong enough to handle it.

Rey folded her arms, desperately trying to still the shaking of her hands, as she eased herself back to a comfortable distance apart from his thoughts.

“I'm sorry...I don't...I don't know what happened.” she muttered, her voice sharp with the effort to keep it from trembling too. Fortunately for her conscience, Ben looked just as lost as she – his hazel eyes now betraying everything where just a few years before they had been glassy orbs behind which he could hide his every emotion.

A determined look crossed his gaze. He put his hands by his sides and sat up effortlessly, marveling at the ease of the motion, a twitch of a smile gracing his mouth.

Of course she had healed him perfectly, his ribs not even twinging slightly.

A gentle look unlike any he'd ever given her filled his hazel eyes, and, ever so slowly, his thick, corded arms encapsulated her more tenderly than she would've believed possible. One hand cradled the nape of neck as he buried his face in her long, loose hair.

“Rey, it's okay.” he whispered, gentle and coaxing, but still her body shook convulsively, rattled to its very core.

She eased her trembling arms out of his grasp and wrapped them around his waist and shoulders, suddenly feeling clueless about how to reciprocate. 

She had no experience when it came to love – friendship she had been able to cobble together with time, loyalty she had been able to learn. 

H ow could she reflect back such love, such utter love and faithfulness and  _ completeness  _ back at him? 

How could she explain that the idea that she'd found a home in him was both the most wonderful and most terrifying thought she'd ever had?

She hadn't the words to explain the roar of joy in her veins, so she just held him tighter as he sat with her, one hand gently rubbing her back until her shaking began to subside.

His emotions were suddenly guarded from her, as if he'd thrown up one of Kylo Ren's old iron curtains, startling her with his emotional silence. And the silence stretched for an uncomfortably long minute before he spoke.

But she needn't have worried.

“I have no experience in being vulnerable, either, Rey. But you have nothing to be afraid of, I feel it too _. _ ” he murmured, risking planting a kiss against the top of her head. 

The stray tears escaped from her eyes onto his war-torn shirt, and her cheek planted itself firmly against his shoulder, one hand entangling itself in his raven hair. 

They stayed like this for a long time, clutching each other until Rey finally accepted that this was her new reality.

Rey – just Rey – would never be alone again. Far from it, this former lost soul would always be a part of her now.


	4. III.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey helps Ben test out his injured leg while they discuss a potential strategy for the trial.

III.

Rey – just Rey – had always been dreadful at following orders. Especially when resting injuries was involved.

Sure enough, she finished her meal and took a brief nap to recharge her energy, at Ben's persistent requests, but afterwards she offered him her shoulder to lean on and proceeded to patiently help him test his leg in a walk around the room as they discussed their course of action, any possible angle of attack they could use at trial.

“I think the best course of action would be to just explain the whole story.” Rey started, grunting a little under the effort of supporting a body a head taller than her and nearly twice her weight.

Ben was just as impatient as she in his efforts to test his healed limbs, but he still had to keep his arm around her shoulders to keep from stumbling, hesitantly putting more of his weight on his difficult left leg.

“Meaning?” he grunted as a misstep sent a shock-wave of pain up his leg. Her grip on his shoulder kept him from falling. Rey slowed their circuitous path about the room to stop and let go of his shoulder.

They'd been dancing around the topic for nearly ten minutes and nearly four laps around the room, saying everything about how he'd changed, and turned the tide of war, and worked with Rey to defeat the Emperor – all their ammunition they could use in court.

But it lacked the substance of the critical truth: Ben had been horrifically manipulated all his life.

She knew this was going to be difficult, but if Ben couldn't even share the truth with her, how could he possibly make his case at trial?

“Ben...correct me if I'm wrong, but did Snoke not corrupt you from a very young age?” Rey asked, gentle but direct.

Ben visibly stiffened at the mention of his old Master's name, standing stock-still and unbalanced, favoring his right leg.

“When I was training under Leia, she told me stories. How you were young and full of life and practically alight with the Force as a child, and how as you got older you got more and more distant and ambitious to the point that she sent you to train with Luke for fear of what would become of you.”

He would not meet her eyes, staring resolutely at the floor.

“She...she saw how _cold_ you were becoming...” Rey said, the general's choice of adjective still sending chills through her now, because in one word, Leia had managed to encapsulate the parts of Kylo Ren she had come to fear the most – not his anger, or capacity for murderous rage, those could be spotted from a mile away and dealt with as they came.

It was his lack of compassion, the emptiness she came to sense in his chest where most people had a pulse of emotion and passion they called a heart; that was what had truly frightened Rey.

Rey could feel the discomfort starting to boil in Ben's chest now, but she had to persist.

“That's the case you have to make Ben, that's what can save you – even if no one else can quite understand the Force like you or I do. But...Finn and Jannah'll be on the council, victims of the same cruel system as you!” she exclaimed, building momentum as hope and clarity sparked in her mind.

“They know what it's like to be conditioned to suit a dark cause since childhood! They know what it's like to be manipulated and hurt and molded into something else they no longer recognize – they'll understand!!”

Even through her blinding starlight revelation, Rey sensed the trouble before it came.

All it took was a second, and he had her torso pinned down against her cot – the metallic bang echoing through the room. Her arms were bound against her spine, her cheek pressed against the cold metal, and she was finding it hard to breathe through the instant panic.

“STOP IT!!” he screamed, pushing down on her arms with brutal force, fingers squeezing and cruel. “... _Just stop..._ ” he muttered, and just as quickly he released her with a shuddering gasp and turned away from her.

Rey rose from the cot painfully slowly, terrified to turn around only to find that Kylo Ren had returned.

But no, what she saw instead was the sloping shoulders of abnormally tall Ben Solo shaking with silent sobs, palms flat against the cot that had nearly been his death bed.

And Ben Solo's walls were down, no curtains or masks or practiced neutral expressions to hide behind.

Rey felt it all – the deep sorrow at the loss of himself, the guilt at all the destruction and death he had wrought, the agony of holding a mirror up to Kylo Ren and actualizing his horrible deeds, the hatred he directed inward for ever having listened to the dark voices in his head, the despair that he would never be able escape his past, and the pain from the one bloody death he could never wash his hands clean of.

It all weighed on Rey's chest like a hundred-pound weight and was enough to make her gasp for breath.

Even if she didn't feel a pull to him – shared no bond and lacked a relationship with him that she could only really describe as love (in spite of her inexperience with such matters) – if never before, in this moment, he would have had her pity. He would've gained her persistent desire to heal his wounds and lift him up.

This young man had suffered enough, the cold emptiness of death would have been too cruel of an outcome for the universe to even comprehend – so she would fight for his right to live and make right his existence.

Rey had to stretch up to reach his shoulders but she did it nonetheless, forehead gently resting on his back, her arms wrapped tight around him, selfless and supportive.

This was what broke him.

He collapsed onto the cot, gasping with sobs, chest shaking and eyes quickly turning red from the flood of tears.

Rey stayed right by him, her arms a gentle pressure on his back, palms rubbing small circles down near the base of his spine and moving up to massage his shoulders.

His cries became a cross between screams and wails for a few heartbreaking minutes. Each sound was like a wound inflicted by Kylo's now lost saber in Rey's gut and chest. But Rey wasn't about to tell Ben to stop crying – he needed to process all his grief, let himself feel it for the first time in many years, mourn himself.

Only once he did could the long, slow healing process begin.

She knew this dance well – it was not unlike accepting the loss of her parents.

She could hardly have expected to drag him back into the light and for there to be no consequences.

The minutes passed, and slowly but surely, Ben's breathing evened out and his shaking stilled.

The hurt in his bloodshot eyes when he lifted his head just about snapped her heart in two.

The reason why nearly made Rey cry too.

– _I don't deserve your pity._

“ _You know better than anyone what I've done. You called me a monster – how?! How could you feel even an ounce of forgiveness for me now?_ ”

His voice came out almost as a growl when he spoke, harsh and with gritted teeth – he was desperately trying to keep it steady.

Rey brushed away his stray tears with the pad of her thumb instinctively, only prompting more to leak from his eyes at her gentle touch.

The answer came to Rey readily.

“Because even though I only felt a small fraction of it, I know what it's like to be pulled to the dark.” she said, shaking her head, as if denying that she could ever do anything but care for him.

"I know what it's like to want answers, to crave solutions and understanding and _meaning_ in your life that you thought you could never have. I understand the temptation. As such, I know how hard it was for you to come back – that's why I trust you now, because I know how much of a fight it truly was.” she said, taking his hands in hers, clutching them between her palms.

She took a deep breath before speaking of her own pain.

“Even though I know Ben Solo and Kylo Ren are two completely different people, I'm not a fool – I know exactly who you used to be and I'm starting to understand how you got there. But Ben,” she searched for the right words, clueless and a little desperate, but a determined flame burned bright in her essence all the same, “you have to explain the rest to me, the 'how it happened.'”

The look of horror that crossed Ben's face nearly made her lose her nerve.

“You have to tell me what being seduced by the Dark Side was like – the truth _needs_ to be heard at the trial or else, not just you, but _justice_ will be sacrificed in the process.”

The needle of pain in Ben's heart stabbed her too, and she gripped his hands tighter.

“Let me help you...” she whispered, echoing her words from not so long ago. A moment of silence passed and Ben let out a sigh of resignation that paralleled the shaky resolve she felt in his mind.

He sat down on his cot and she joined him at his side, clutching a hand a great deal larger than her own, but lacking in its previous warmth and strength.

“I started hearing darker voices in my mind when I was thirteen years old.” he murmured, low, but steady again.

“They were quiet, at first, always _so quiet_...Just passing thoughts really. 'My parents can't possibly understand my connection to the Force, neither of them are as sensitive to it as I am.'

'I'm being held back, I should be much further along in my training – if only Uncle would let me.'

'Mother doesn't have time to send me a communication, she's probably busy, but maybe she's just tired of hearing me complain about Luke.'

'Dad -'” his voice broke for a moment, but he pushed on, resolute.

“'Dad showed up only on my birthday again, with another shiny new thing to buy my affection. He doesn't deserve it.' Little things like that, that compounded year after year, and just became _worse_.”

It was like watching a dam starting to crack, and water beginning to flow relentlessly through even the most minuscule splinter in the stone.

“I began to doubt everything, the love of my parents and uncle, the respect of my peers, the compassion of strangers, the infinite potential of having an undecided future."

"Each day I would wake with this _craving_ in my stomach that couldn't be satisfied by food or drink or brawl or reckless exploration, I thirsted doggedly after _more_. More skill in a fight, more talent with the Force, more admiration from my fellow padawans, just more than I could ever possibly _have_.”

He was squeezing her hand back now, the pressure on her fingers enormous, but she didn't dare pull away for fear that he would stop.

“I became an embodiment of ambition, this pillar of an example to everyone at the temple – _that's_ how you become a Jedi Master. But Luke knew, he was afraid, _very_ afraid of my anger and my fading compassion for others as I began to see the flaws in his teachings and was forced into looking out only for myself because I felt I could no longer trust anyone else."

"And knowing Luke was hiding something from me, I broke into the library of Jedi texts and found out the truth about my family – I was the grandchild of one of the greatest Sith the galaxy had ever known.” he said, in hollow whisper, lacking any of the reverence Kylo Ren would have had in his voice when making such a statement.

“After that, it was the only way forward I could see. 'How else was I ever going to get out of my family's shadow but than by becoming stronger than any Jedi ever could?'

'How else was I ever going to be free from everything I hated about my father, unless, of course, I changed my name?', I thought.”

His eyes scrunched closed in pain and he released Rey's hand from his crushing hold, clutching the edge of the cot instead.

“And from then on, that was it. The lines blurred. I couldn't tell my thoughts from Snoke's anymore – there wasn't a distinction to be made. We were one. He had molded me into his perfect, obsessed...rabid soldier...”

His hazel eyes were haunted when they wearily opened, but his spirit seemed liberated of a great weight.

Rey could only nod, numb. It was one thing to feel all his pain – it was another entirely to hear him speak of his descent into darkness.

A piece of her compassion, laced tight in her essence, was wracked with pain.

“That's what you're going to have to explain at trial.” Ben swallowed, hard.

“Exactly that?”

“The more truth you're able to speak, the better it will go.” She seized his hand, firm and warm. “And I'll be right by your side the entire time.”

He nodded stiffly, and she could feel the flood of gratitude threatening to overwhelm him. A few traitorous tears slipped out of his eyes.

“I don't deserve you, Rey.” he whispered. Rey's vision blurred with tears.

“ _Oh shut up, you idiot!_ ” she choked out, practically falling into his arms and squeezing him as tight as she could as her arms shook. He could feel how she cared for him in every shaky breath she took, how her soul was alight with grief-torn compassion and sympathy – the overwhelming desire to stitch up his every wound, especially the one's inflicted on his mind and soul.

“Of course you deserve me! Stars – _I_ deserve to have found someone like you after all that I've been through!” Rey managed to exclaim through sobs. Ben's chest shook, half with relieved laughter, half with tears.

He had never felt like this before – so wanted by another person, baggage and all. Never had someone else wanted so completely to share his troubles, no matter how lofty they were.

Ben Solo was hit over the head with the peculiar sensation of wanting to kiss her until he couldn't breathe anymore.

It was at that moment that the med-bay doors _whooshed_ open again and the two jumped apart in surprise. Ben, however, shamelessly held onto Rey's left hand at the medic stared down his nose at them.

“We'll be arriving at the Yavin 4 base in fifteen minutes. Can you stand?” he said, his usual curt attitude laced with undisguised disgust.

Ben rose to his feet easily, weight distributed equally. The medic's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but he shook it off.

“Very peculiar. Regardless, given that you can walk...” Two armed guards entered the med-bay with a wave of the medic's hand.

Ben sighed silently, but made no objection, holding out his wrists for the guards to slap the metal cuffs – laced with foolproof electronic locks – onto him.

Rey stood as well, wiping away her remaining tears and readying herself, looping her hair into its three signature buns and getting it out of her face. She stayed right at his side as he was escorted out of the med-bay.

The drop out of hyperspace and descent to Yavin 4 was done in silence, but Rey kept her warm Force wrapped securely around Ben's, a constant comfort.

Where before there had been a shattered, shaking core, Rey sensed only resolve in Ben. Whatever happened, he was prepared to face it, and to speak his truth.

Still, she found it difficult to quell her own mounting anxiety.

Blue sky and the twisting, ancient green foliage of Yavin 4's jungles came into view beyond the rear hatch windows. Ben and Rey's hearts raced in tandem.

_If all else fails,_ Rey thought, sending Ben the equivalent of a reassuring squeeze of his hand across their bond _just look at me. Just look at me and pretend you're only telling me your story and ignore the council._

A swirl of orange light from him, an internal nod. And, though he tried to keep it hidden, a flash of silver quickly followed.

Panic.

Rey met his eyes as the alarms on the medical shuttle blared and the lights flared red, signaling the depressurizing cabin and the opening of the hatch doors.

_There's just one problem, Rey._ he thought, _All I can give them is my word. There's no evidence that anything I say is true, there's no one who'll stand with me in that camp. I know you've sensed it as well as I have. My mother is gone._

Indeed, Rey knew well the emptiness, the loss she'd detected in the Force after the Battle of Exegol – but she'd been so concerned about Ben's survival, she hadn't had adequate time to mourn or even really acknowledge the change.

_We'll have to try, regardless,_ was all Rey could muster in response.

Because in that moment, the hatch opened and the ramp lowered, revealing a company of Rebels and dozen blasters trained on them.

And at the front of the pack, looking as furious as the rest of the squad, were Finn and Poe.

Rey – just Rey – had wanted to avoid getting caught up in a war.

Now it seemed, she would have to wage one of her own.


	5. IV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Council of the Rebel Alliance of the New Republic convenes to decide the fate of one Benjamin Solo.

IV.

Ben Solo had been trained from age thirteen to hold grudges that were so fierce and so heated they were almost considered to be unholy.

As such, he could spot the harbored hatred in FN-2187's and Poe Dameron's eyes immediately – and though he was resigned to his fate, he had recently become human enough again to feel the tiniest flash of fear for his life as he was toted off the shuttle towards them, brusquely flanked by the two armed guards.

Rey had to run to keep up.

There was no pretense of patience or ceremony, or warm welcome for the heroine that had saved the galaxy to be found here.

This was business to be carried out swiftly and immediately.

Rey, despite not being cuffed herself, felt as much a prisoner as Ben as they were marched through the center of camp to the small abandoned theater – little more than an atrium of platformed stone benches, overgrown with plant life and greenery – where his trial was to take place.

All around the atrium floor were armed guards as well, blasters all trained on Ben, prepared to fire at the slightest provocation. He was left with Rey in the center of floor – with no platform to stand on and no podium to stand behind – as the members of the council took their seats.

Commander D'Acy and Poe sat front and center in the ring of benches, with about twelve others on the council, including Finn, Rose, Jannah, and Maz Kanata. C-3PO and R2- 2D were present to observe the proceedings, and to record them for posterity.

The only person strangely absent was Lando Calrissian – like as not already called off another mission to take down any lingering Final Order bases, if Rey's judgment of his character was accurate.

How quickly Rey had forgotten how accountable they all held Ben, the former Supreme Leader of the First Order. They all stared at him with such hatred in their eyes, or, at the very least, grim resignation.

Commander D'Acy slammed a weather-worn rock down her bench, serving as her gavel. Any lingering chatter among the council was silenced.

“This council of the Rebel Alliance of the New Republic convenes this afternoon to decide the sentence of one Benjamin Solo.”

The tiniest spark of hope lit up in Rey at the Commander's use of his real name. What was more, no one raised their voice to correct her.

_She never knew me as Kylo Ren._ Ben clarified, sensing her feelings.

_She was an old friend of Mother's, a representative for the Galactic Trade Federation long before all of this._

“The proceedings shall continue as follows. Every member is allowed to speak on three occasions to raise their grievances against the defendant and state the crimes they believe justice requires be brought to this council's attention.

The defendant will then be allowed to speak his case for ten minutes, followed by five minutes devoted to any defense or evidence brought up by a representative or representatives of his choosing. Afterwards, there shall be a half-an-hour recess, allowing the council to decide their sentence in private conference.”

D'Acy took in a deep breath.

“Let us begin.”

The council exploded into chaos, everyone yelling at once. D'Acy slammed her stone onto the bench with bone-cracking force.

“ONE AT A TIME!” she ordered, and then the members of the council proceeded, with electric, palpable aggression, to go down the line and speak their part.

One massacre was mentioned after another.

Jakku, Takodana, Crait, Kijimi, Exegol.

Mass genocide had been committed on Ilum in order to take over the planet and build Starkiller Base.

The burning of the Luke's Jedi Temple and the murder of his students that refused to become members of the Knights of Ren.

Finn and Jannah were quick to mention the kidnapping and indentured servitude of thousands of children to grow the army of Storm Troopers – on Kijimi and dozens of other planets Rey had never even heard of.

Rose contributed the death of her sister, hand on the Haysian ore pendant around her neck, as well as the hundreds of Resistance members that had been buried, or else, turned to stardust during the years of war.

Poe, of course, brought up the unimaginable and cruel torture he had experienced firsthand while he was imprisoned by Kylo Ren. He alone of Rey's four friends kept the passion out of his voice as he spoke – merely reporting it as one would the day's weather.

Maz, tonelessly, brought up the destruction of her business stronghold on Takodana – neglecting to mention the battle that followed entirely.

Ben stared straight ahead at the wall all the while. Rey could feel each agonizing, emotional shot of guilt entering him as he recalled all his crimes, but his feelings did not distract him from his true purpose.

In fact, it was _Ben_ who had to keep sending soothing thoughts in _Rey's_ direction.

Oh, how she could have screamed at the council, _raged_ at them.

By their standards, Ben Solo was solely responsible for every deplorable act the First Order, Final Order, Palpatine, and Snoke had committed.

For certain, there was a great deal of blood on Ben's hands – Rey wasn't blind to that. But to put the entire brunt of the blame for the war on Ben's shoulders? The unfairness of it made her seethe.

Despite the hurricane in her mind, Rey noticed how neutral and surprisingly calm Poe's expression was staying through all of the proceedings, as if he'd already made up his mind. The council went through half its members thrice – Finn, Rose, Jannah and Poe, oddly enough, summarized all their grievances into one succinct statement each.

D'Acy glanced around for any last-minute statements. None were offered to her.

“Very well, then. Benjamin Solo, you will now be allowed to plead your case. Proceed when you are ready. You have ten minutes.” said D'Acy, pragmatically.

It was now that Ben steadily met the eyes of his judge, jury, and executioner.

“It is as the Commander says. I stand before you now as I who I was born: I am Ben Solo. The identity I assumed for myself seven years ago, Kylo Ren...is dead.”

This prompted a great deal of weary muttering from the council which Poe was quick to silence with a threatening glare. Ben continued, brokenly.

“From a young age, I was manipulated by Snoke...acting through the Dark Side of the Force. He pushed doubt into my mind – warped it...so that I gradually lost sight of the light.” he ducked his head, but his voice stayed loud enough for all to hear.

“I came to resent my mother, hate my father, distrust my uncle. I turned away from everything and everyone because I was manipulated into doing so.”

With purpose and determination, he raised his head and stared them down.

“Snoke filled my head with visions of power and ambition and convinced me that pursuing it would allow me to become the unstoppable Force-user I was always meant to be. He persuaded me to...” he swallowed, “to abandon all I knew, kill my past, and join the Dark Side. He turned me into Kylo Ren.”

His speech trickled to a stop, and Rey felt a twinge of fear in his heart, a slight hesitance.

And then he turned to look at her.

“It is only because of the kindness and sacrifice of Rey that I was able to finally return to the light. To rediscover Ben Solo.” he said, slow and methodical, his voice thick with vulnerability.

Rey's heart soared, and he took courage. His shoulders tensed and he whipped back towards the council.

“That is the truth of my journey. No different than a Storm Trooper being conditioned by his commander-” he looked Finn, and then Jannah, straight in the face “I was conditioned by Snoke to become a faithful soldier to the Dark Side.”

He took a deep breath that only Rey caught sight of.

“...However...I have no proof of this.

Panic shot through Rey's chest, cold and sharp.

What was he doing?!

“I can give you nothing but my word and the promise that this is the truth. There is nothing I can do to wash my hands clean of the blood that stains them, to give back the lives I've stolen, no punishment equal to the crimes I've committed.”

The jury broke out into whispers again, D'Acy yelling for order before Ben continued.

The years seemed to melt off of him in that moment.

Ben Solo stood before the council not as a young man, but as a lost boy.

“There is no excusing what Kylo Ren has done. As such...I will submit to whatever decision the council deems justified, and hold myself to the finality of their sentence.”

And though to anyone else in the room, Ben Solo merely ducked his head, Rey knew better. In that slight downward turn of his head, Ben Solo was bowing before the council in humility, completely putting himself at their mercy.

The silence that followed stretched so long that the avian life in the sunlight-dappled trees surrounding the clearing began chirping and whistling liberally again. Rey could feel the energies around the entire council lift – a good deal of their harbored hatred simply evaporating into thin air with this act of total surrender.

Commander D'Acy eventually shook herself out of her stupor.

“If anyone would like to speak on the defendant's behalf, please rise now and do so. You must be acknowledged by the defendant in order to have the floor. You have five minutes. Each.” she amended.

Rey was a breath away from speaking when Maz Kanata rose from her seat on the council. Rey bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood in the effort to restrain her smile.

Ben openly stared at Maz in surprise, but nodded his assent, nevertheless. Maz cleared her throat. 

“The beauty of being as old as I am means that I have been able to see all stages of the stories of those younger than I.” she began, walking bow-legged to the nearest staircase and beginning the long trek down to the forest floor.

“I met Ben Solo when he was just a boy, on his first adventure with his father and the Wookiee Chewbacca. It was in those days I learned to recognize the eyes of a boy who wants to run.”

Ben's disbelief was vibrating across the bond. Despite having known Maz for most of his life, he had no more idea where she was going with her speech than Rey did.

“A great weight was placed on that eleven-year old boy's shoulders,” Maz nodded, sagely “the weight of reputation, the weight of being a living legacy. After all, who among us was asked to be born the child of legends?” Maz asked rhetorically, looking pointedly at Rey and causing her to pale.

Could every Force sensitive-person tell just by looking at her? Was there some secret, invisible tattoo on her somewhere that read “I'm Sheev Palpatine's granddaughter”?

Rey hadn't even had the time to process this reality just yet – not fully.

For the most part, she'd pushed the reality of her family to the side, insisting that it didn't matter. She'd made her choice – literally faced down her heritage and refused it all.

But in truth, though she'd buried such thoughts so deep that she didn't even admit them to herself, it still pained her. Her last name made her furious – that her ancestor had ripped her from the hope of having a family, a normal life, and had forever stained her reputation with its dark mark made her seethe at the injustice of life.

Maz continued.

“With each visit to my establishment on Takodana, I sensed the darkness closing in around young Solo – the work of dark forces trying to pull an expected Force-sensitive person over to their side. And our dear departed General knew this, more than most.”

Maz placed an affectionate hand on Ben's shackled wrist. “Leia only hoped to keep you in the light by sending you to Luke, as you now know. Had she known that this would only further divide you from her, she never would have dared.”

Maz' attention returned to the council.

“I ask you, would you hold one persuaded through the Force to fire a blaster, guilty for a murder? Or, would you try the one who was using the Force to pull the trigger in the first place? This situation is no different. We cannot sentence a man to death because he was targeted from birth by forces much stronger and with much darker intent than he, and molded to their purpose.” concluded Maz, staring at each and every member of the council as if she could see through them with her giant, magnified eyes.

Rey swallowed, hard, trying to bring some moisture back to her throat.

She hadn't a clue what else she could add – Maz had just about covered it all.

“Exactly,” she added, lamely, though she kept her voice firm “Ben was Force-sensitive from birth. That's why he became a prime target for manipulation by Palpatine and Snoke – whom he turned against in the end, and personally helped me defeat, nearly killing himself in the process. Are you all seriously going to demand that he pay for being hunted and coerced into using a power for dark purposes, that he had no say about having to begin with?”

A sudden wave of inspiration helped give more substance to Rey's argument.

“If I hadn't been better hidden by my parents from Palpatine's eyes, I would be standing trial for the exact same crimes Ben Solo is today.”

The council was now frantically passing sidelong glances at each other – the benches filled with muttering and whispering. Rey could only hear snatches of conversation, but detected much more through the Force.

With each speaker, the anger and resentment towards Ben had lessened.

Now, she sensed mostly confusion.

R2 was whistling with undisguised impatience at the chaos of the situation, and the need to even have a trial.

“I don't know that I agree with your willingness to immediately forgive young Solo, R2. Look at Chewbacca, he knew Ben all his life and still couldn't bring himself to take a seat on the council – he's still so torn up about the late Master Solo.” Rey just barely heard C-3PO gripe. The conversation on the benches was growing to a fever pitch, and D'Acy about to slam down her gavel again, Poe looking officially done with these proceedings, when a soft chuckle from behind Rey brought dead silence to the clearing.

Two hands, one with vaguely human, fleshy warmth, and one with the callousness of wrought-iron fell on Rey's shoulders, giving them a pat.

“Good job, spitfire, but we'll take it from here.”

Rey whipped around so fast she nearly shattered the sound barrier.

The Force-ghost of Luke Skywalker was standing behind her, accompanied by his sister, General Leia Organa, now looking much more the part of princess than the role of a military leader in an opulent, flowing, jewel-tone gown – both looking to be about twenty years younger and surrounded by a supernatural blue glow.

Ben's eyes went as wide as saucers at the sight of his mother. Rey became worried he would feint with how pale he looked.

The whole council stared, slack-jawed, even the least Force-sensitive among them clearly able to see the pair.

“It is indeed as my son says. He was ruthlessly manipulated by Snoke from a young age to turn to the Dark Side.” Leia began ever the graceful diplomat. Rey didn't bite back her smile this time.

The late General stepped up and rested her hands on her son's shoulders.

He was at least a foot taller than her.

Rey could feel through their bond how every inch of him was shaking with effort of not crying. That his mother was here, defending him, forgiving him for all he had done – it was more grace and kindness than he could bear.

“As such, I must ask that you not hold him accountable for the crimes he committed as Kylo Ren – for the true perpetrators of these crimes, Snoke and Sheev Palpatine, have been destroyed.” Leia continued.

“Destroyed, in fact, by Rey, and more importantly, Ben himself.” contributed Luke, voicing the exact interjection Rey had in mind with a gentle squeeze and release of her shoulders. “Not unlike my late father, Ben Solo turned from darkness in a heroic, selfless act to save Rey, one that would have cost him his life, if hadn't been for my sister's sacrifice.” he said, gesturing towards Leia.

Ben whipped around to face his mother, shock plastered across his features.

The council was quick to erupt in more whispers, but the late General merely stared them down.

“Indeed. I used the last of my life-energy to reach out to my son and pull him fully back into the light. Consider it my final act as a mother – maybe the first one I ever got right.” she said gravely, laughing hollowly.

“If anyone amongst us should be on trial, it should be me, for failing my son in life, and thinking putting more distance between myself and him would save him from the darkness.”

The council exploded, shocked to the core by Leia's declaration.

The moment of chaos was all the distraction Ben needed.

He looked his mother dead in the eyes.

“You can't be serious...” he murmured, voice thin.

Leia vaguely shook her head, as if to say now was not the time, but Ben persisted.

Rey could hear all they said to each other across the bond as easily as if they were speaking aloud.

_Why did you save me?_

Leia took Ben's hands in hers, smiling like there was nothing more precious in the galaxy.

_I gave up the last of my life-force so that my son could live._

Ben could hold back no longer. His tears freely began to flow.

_How could you find it within yourself to forgive me?_

Leia's smile was incandescent.

_Because you are my son, and there is nothing you could do that would ever make me stop loving you._

Ben frantically wiped away the tears that were threatening to turn his face red and blotchy, and though the movement was subtle, he clasped his mother tight around her shoulders.

_I just hope you'll forgive me in time for sending you away._

She sounded positively heartbroken.

Ben gave her the tiniest smile.

_I already have._

Rey found herself also swiping at tears, as the trial continued in chaos around their loving eye-of-the-storm.

“In short, Ben Solo is a changed man, and redeemed in the eyes of the Force. There is nothing more to discuss here.” Luke said, yelling over the chaos to be heard.

“If you wish to be a New Republic built on justice, and not on the blood-thirsty act of vengeance, you will acquit my son of all charges.” Leia concluded, relaxing her grip on her dear son so he could turn to face the council.

Rey's heart soared with hope, as blinding as a twin-sunset.

However, one look at the hard furrow in Poe Dameron's brow sent her heart plummeting into her stomach.

“It is with great regret that I must inform you, General and Jedi Master, that this trial has merely been a formality.” said Poe, sending shocked whispers ricocheting amongst the council. Poe held up a placating hand.

“Do to the Galactic-scale of influence the First and Final Orders have had, the power to pass judgment on one Benjamin Solo has been taken from our hands entirely.”

The council erupted into a screaming match again, and this time D'Acy also entered the fray. Poe had to fire his blaster into the air in order to get everyone to be quiet again.

“Now look!! If it were up to me, I'd happily agree to your request, General, and I think after the arguments presented today, a majority of us would!!"

"But I am under direct orders from the Galactic Senate to personally deliver the recording of this trial to them, along with any concrete evidence of deceit and manipulation of the defendant by the First Order – obtained directly from First and Final Order bases, which, need I remind you, we have yet to deal with the last of them!! Because of that...the trial of Ben Solo, for the moment, is taking a month-long recess until the Senate can convene and make their decision.” concluded Poe, voice heavy with resignation.

Loud conversation continued again as Ben and Rey looked on, gobsmacked.

Luke and Leia could only exchange bewildered, angry looks.

“Damn that Senate.” muttered Leia, beginning to fade in and out of view, her passionate emotions making it difficult for her Force-ghost to stay manifested.

“And what about the prisoner?” yelled Finn, rising to his feet, his booming voice carrying through the turmoil to Poe.

“He won't need to be present at the Senate meeting, given that he was present for this trial.” Poe said, clearly unhappy with his orders, given the sarcastic tone of his voice

“In the meantime, while he is awaiting their decision, he is to go into exile, and be outfitted with tracking ankle bracelet to be kept on him at all times to ensure he stays there. Given that he's a powerful Force-user, the Senate insisted that a single, equally powerful Force-user be assigned to keep him under 24-hour guard.” Poe shrugged, dripping with sarcasm.

“Given that we're fresh out of Jedi, that means it has to be Rey.”

This turn of events just kept surprising Rey and Ben more and more.

“Oh! Nearly forgot,” simpered Poe. And he tossed Finn the keys to the _Millennium Falcon_ , the latter just barely managing to catch them.

“They ordered _you_ to fly to them there. You're not even allowed to tell _me_ where you're taking them, understood? It just can't be anywhere inhospitable, okay – no desert planets, no ice planets, no ocean planets, no stars.”

Finn looked like he wanted to murder Poe with his gaze.

“Where can I take them, then?” he said.

“I believe the phrase Senator Tano used was 'somewhere green.' They're supposed to leave immediately – go on, get out of here!” concluded Poe, waving Finn in the direction of the rust-bucket.

The two armed guards, plus a second pair for Rey, separated from the circle and shoved her and Ben from the clearing, escorting them to the _Falcon_ , which was parked back at camp just a few minutes away.

Luke and Leia stayed by their side until they reached the hatch's threshold, already lowered by Finn. They paused on the ramp to speak to the two Force-ghosts, the guards leaving them to Finn's care.

“I am so _sorry_ about this you two.” Leia muttered, voice low and meaning every word.

“We've done all we can to help you. I'm certain the Senate will see reason – the truth will out.” reassured Luke. Ben, still bewildered beyond powers of speech by the sudden turn of events, looked on blankly.

Rey, however, had the sense to be ticked off.

“What are we supposed to do then, treat this like some kind of vacation?” she hissed at Luke. Luke sighed in resignation.

“If such a thing is possible, then yes. It would certainly do you both a lot of good, you've both more than earned it.”

And just like that, Luke and Leia's atoms scattered again, their ghostly manifestations vanishing back into the Force, though their presence seemed to stay with Rey, even as she and Ben were marched onto the _Falcon_ by Finn.

The hatch door closed behind them with a fatalistic _thud_.

Finn stomped through the cabin over to the cockpit. Ben wordlessly settled himself in the seat next to the dejarik board near the middle of the ship, where he figured he could stay out of the way. Rey, shaking her head at the absurdity of the situation, followed Finn to the cockpit.

She settled herself in the co-pilot's seat and could feel the anger radiating off of him.

“Coordinates?” he asked, woodenly.

“What?” Rey retorted.

“Poe told me to take him somewhere green. Since you're the one who has to guard him, I figured you should choose.” he said, giving her plenty of attitude, as if it was the first day he'd met her all over again.

Rey threw up her hands.

“I haven't the slightest clue where we should go, Finn! And don't you take that tone with me, I didn't order you to fly us into exile!”

Finn erupted, shooting to his feet and nearly smashing his head against the ceiling controls.

“ _Yeah, but you had to save him in the first place didn't you?!_ ” Rey was on her feet twice as fast.

“Yes, FINN, because it was the right thing to do!! He nearly died saving my life!!”

“ _And that's reason enough to trust him?! Just like THAT?!?!_ ”

“IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE HE WAS MANIPULATED BY THE DARK SIDE, THEN FINE!! I KNOW HE HAD NO CHOICE; I KNOW HAS A HEART!!”

“ _WELL OKAY THEN_ , _if he's a_ sensitive _, shredded bad boy then I guess it makes it AAAAALLLL OKAY!!!_ ”

Rey blinked repeatedly.

“You're jealous of him?”

Finn froze on the spot, all his anger draining out of him like his emotions had sprung a leak. He slowly sat back down.

“...No...of course not. Don't be ridiculous.” he muttered, half sounding like he was trying to convince himself.

Rey glared at him until he grew visibly uncomfortable. He released the _Falcon_ 's controls.

“...Okay, fine, maybe when I first met you I found you cute and unbelievably badass.” Rey found herself smiling just the tiniest bit, against her better wishes

“But ever since we took down Starkiller, the thing that brought us closer together than ever before, it feels like you've just...been drifting farther and farther away and I've been powerless to do anything about it...” Rey sat back down, pondering this statement.

“Our life paths do seem to have been diverging more and more.” she consented.

“I'm sorry if you felt like I wasn't there for you. I never meant to abandon you.” she said, looking his way and trying to meet his gaze so he could see how sorry she felt. Finn sighed – he didn't need to look at her.

He knew she was sincere. She could feel how he didn't really want to fight.

“You didn't abandon me, Rey. You just...went somewhere I couldn't follow."

"You became a Jedi – like Luke you managed to turn one of the biggest bad's of our time. You really came into your own. And you didn't need me anymore.” he said, with a slow shrug. Rey's hand easily came to rest on his shoulder.

“That doesn't mean I've forgotten all you did for me – getting me off Jakku, helping my life begin, looking out for me. Just because I became a Jedi doesn't mean I suddenly don't value your friendship.” Finn chuckled, leaning over the controls.

“Damn, Poe was right. I did get friend-zoned.” Rey rolled her eyes in mock annoyance, snatching her hand away.

“As if you and Rose haven't been sneaking off together for months.” she said, crossing her arms.

Finn grinned impishly, maybe to hide the blush that colored his cheeks so obviously Rey could have seen it from miles away.

“You're cool with it?” he asked.

“Obviously.” she snorted. He nodded, his spirit exuding a happy calm.

“I'll always be in your corner if you need me, Rey. Even if...I don't understand all your decisions.” Finn said, glancing over his shoulder in Ben's general direction.

“And I'll always be in yours.” Rey said, eyes shining. Then she broke down and laughed. “If it helps, think of it this way – me and Ben are a great deal like you and Poe.”

Finn's brow furrowed.

“That...does not help at all. You're telling me you don't even remotely find him attractive?” Rey could no sooner stop the blush from setting fire to her face than she could prevent Finn from riotously laughing at her.

“It's none of your business whether or not I find him attractive!!” she exclaimed while Finn roared with laughter, leaning all the way back in the pilot's seat. It took several long minutes of perturbed waiting on Rey's part for Finn to catch his breath.

“Just take care of yourself, alright?” said Finn, adjusting himself into the pilot's seat, preparing to finally fly.

“Always.” said Rey, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“So, where too?” he asked. Rey clicked her tongue.

“Still no clue. I mean, I'd suggest Takodana and Maz' palace but the place got demolished. I think somewhere green and secluded with a stable, empty shelter is what would actually fit the Senate's requirements better. Or, at least, my requirements.”

“And nearby, in case there's trouble and you're needed.”

“Definitely.”

“Let's see then...habitable planets within twelve parsecs...we've got Coruscant, – too densely populated – Takodana, – already out – Corellia, Felucia, Naboo, Lah'mu, and Onderon.”

Rey sputtered her lips.

“Pick one at random, Captain Finn.” she said with a shrug. Finn grinned her way and was about to type in a set of coordinates when Ben spoke to her from across the ship, gentle and persistent and suddenly lucid again.

 _Naboo. Pick Naboo_.

Rey waited a moment before raising her voice – she didn't want to make it too obvious their 'prisoner' was choosing the location of his exile. Resolved conflicts aside, if Finn knew Ben had suggested it, he almost certainly wouldn't agree to it.

“Actually Finn...” Rey said, slowly, as if she were having second thoughts “What was that third planet you said?”

Finn returned to the search list.

“Naboo.”

“Can you show me what it looks like?” Though the file photos were all at least ten years old, Rey's jaw instantly hit the floor at the sight of the lush forests, hundreds of waterfalls and lakes, green pastures and clear skies.

“That one. That one for sure.” Finn broke into another laughing fit, albeit a much shorter one this time.

“Alright then, Rey, somewhere green, here we come!”

The feeling of the _Falcon_ leaving the atmosphere didn't quite give her the feeling of her heart taking flight like it had the first time.

But Rey was filled with hope for the first time in a long time.

And Ben Solo, seemingly minding his own business in the back, was hoping that one called in favor – one lucky thing he'd done right under Snoke, even after all this time – would come through.

...And then the door to the engine room hissed open and Ben Solo's furry, behemoth childhood caretaker emerged and locked eyes with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated! :)


	6. V.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The small company travels to Naboo to begin Ben Solo's exile. Unfortunately, Ben just ran into a Wookiee with a legendary ability to hold grudges...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let it be known that I didn't update yesterday because I was watching Adam Driver on SNL.
> 
> What a time to be alive.

V.

Rey – just Rey – had never before been needed by anyone, never had to protect or be on the lookout for anyone before she met BB-8.

Then she learned she was Force-sensitive and suddenly everyone in the galaxy needed her.

In this moment though, she was only needed by one person – an absolutely terrified Ben Solo, screaming for help across their bond.

The second they jumped to hyperspace and Rey wouldn't be thrown back in the ship with bone-breaking force, Rey ejected herself from her seat and sprinted down the hallway, Finn yelling, panicked after her.

She was ricocheting off the walls in her haste, slipping and sliding across the over-waxed floors, nearly falling over twice. But by the time she reached him, it was too late.

“CHEWIE, DROP HIM RIGHT NOW!!” she screamed, charging at the Wookiee like a woman possessed, with no plan in mind other than to forcefully wrench Ben from the crushing choke-hold the Wookiee had on him as he swung him around like a rag doll.

She jumped up and proceeded to tear at his arm, trying to make him loosen his grip with the Force. All the while, Ben was choking and Chewie was yelling in Shyriiwook. It took a moment for the Wookiee's ululations to sink in, but once they did, Rey lost her grip and all of her panic left her as she dropped to the floor and was left feeling monstrously confused.

The Wookiee wasn't screaming death-threats at all – he sounded positively elated.

“Chewie – can't – breathe.” Ben was able to choke out, prompting the Wookiee to drop him back onto his seat.

“You weren't trying to kill him?” Rey exclaimed as Ben hacked and coughed, trying to force air back into his collapsed lungs.

“I don't know if I would say that.” Ben heaved, finding his voice again.

Chewie's normally roar-like vocalizations softened to something more akin to a growl or purr as he explained. Rey lips slowly stretched into a grin.

“He told you he was sorry about Han – and Leia told you not to kill him if the first thing he said upon seeing you again was 'sorry,' because if he apologized, it would mean Ben Solo had truly returned?”

Chewie chuffed in affirmation.

“Of course she did.” Ben groaned from his seat, forehead resting against the dejarik table, face hidden from view, embarrassment swirling around in his essence that he'd been caught off-guard and over-powered by Chewie.

“So you're happy to see Ben Solo again – you forgive him?” Rey beamed.

Chewie let out a complex string of grunts – he wasn't so sure about that, but he'd be hard-pressed to go after a tormented kid he'd known since birth.

Talking to Leia for months on Yavin 4 had helped cool his anger towards the youngest Solo. He didn't know if he could forgive, but he would try to forget.

Plus...

Rey clapped her hands over her mouth.

“You were the second person to hold him after he was born!?” she exclaimed. Ben snatched his head up.

“He was practically my nursemaid!” he exclaimed, trying in vain to smooth back his fly-away hairs while his wrists were still cuffed. Chewie roared in protest. “Oh _yes_ you were, Uncle Chewie, don't you start that again!”

All Chewie had to do was take a threatening step towards Ben and he instantly clammed up.

Chewbacca roared in a series of rhythmic grunts – laughing.

“Go easy on him! He's still shackled.” Rey exclaimed, though Chewie was quick to correct her - restrained wrists or not, he still had the Force on his side. Rey rolled her eyes as Finn rounded the corner, nodding in her direction.

“Not killing each other back here are you?” he asked. Ben started to raise his voice in protest but Rey cut him off.

“What's up, Finn?” He gave her a devilish grin.

“I just got off the holo with our Galactic Senator and you would never believe where they're setting you guys up. Though...” he glanced at Ben “I'm not sure that he deserves it as much as you do.”

Finn kept her guessing for the better part of the journey, but since Rey knew nothing about Naboo, there was no way she could possibly guess. She was clueless as to where they would be staying until the _Falcon_ landed on Naboo and Rey stepped off the loading ramp.

Her jaw dropped.

“There has to be some mistake...” Finn's smile couldn't have been bigger.

“Nope. This is the place. C'mon.” he said, lightly nudging Ben forward in front of him, Chewbacca bringing up the rear of the pack.

As far as Rey could tell, Finn had parked the _Falcon_ in the center of paradise.

The front garden they'd landed in was outfitted with flowing, rainbow-tiled rock pools, tropical flowers the size of her head and greenery everywhere – so much gorgeous, vivacious green. The columns and archways giving the place a semblance of privacy and structure were ivory and inlaid with gold. And up the rose quartz-colored marble staircase ahead?

A golden-ivory palace, tall and towering, it's turrets and towers adorned with multiple turquoise domes, though it was the central stained-glass dome that sparkled like a diamond in the sunlight.

“The palace is fully stocked by the locals with everything you could need for the month until his trial,” began Finn as they approached the colossal front doors, golden door frames inlaid with sapphires, emeralds and amethysts.

“The Gungans have been maintaining it ever since the last separatist queen was killed by Palpatine – in hope that the next member of the royal bloodline would show.” Rey flinched at the mention of her grandfather's name, her essence flaring a caustic orange.

She had yet to tell Finn the whole truth, as she still didn't know what to think of it herself. She hoped it wouldn't matter to him, but she had no real way of knowing without confessing.

Fortunately, Finn didn't notice her twitch. Ben, of course, noticed everything, but said nothing.

“But, no royal heir has claimed the throne again, and there hasn't been an opportunity to elect a new queen yet since the planet was from freed from First Order rule.” Finn shrugged, glancing around the door for a way to open it – as there was neither handle nor lock.

He finally found the bio-scanner next to the right side of the door and placed his thumb on it.

The scanner responded with a discordant beep.

Finn's brow furrowed and he tried again. And a third time. And a fourth.

Each time, the scanner repeated the same unhappy sound. Finn threw up his hands.

“They explicitly tell me to bring you two to _this_ building and the Senate doesn't even install my signature into the bio-scanner?! How are we supposed to get inside?!”

“Break a window?” Rey suggested, prompting a glare from Finn at her joke, showing just how pissed he really was.

Finn continued to grumble as he stalked in front of the door, pacing in a perfectly straight line.

Rey was so distracted by his fuming, she almost missed when the bio-scanner let out a cheerful whistle. Her head whipped towards the scanner, just barely catching Ben pulling his cuffed hands away as the ancient doors began to slowly fold open.

Finn whipped around.

“Which of you-” he began. Ben's face stayed completely neutral, but Rey could feel the positively wolfish grin he was hiding through their bond.

“The Senator didn't tell you, did they? My grandmother used to live here.” he answered.

_A lifetime ago, I asked Hux to keep my bio-scan on file here. I wanted to use it as a summer home, but I never actually got around to it. I guess the bastard came through after all,_ he explained privately to Rey.

And he swept inside like he owned the place, every bit a Solo. Chewie followed to keep an eye on him, but Finn put up an arm to stop her.

“One second Rey, there's one last thing I need to say.” he said, in surprisingly calm tone, despite the undercurrent of absolute annoyance he felt towards Ben. Rey tried very, very hard to hold in her laugh at Ben's antics.

She just barely managed to succeed.

“What is it, Finn?” He turned to face her, incredibly serious. Rey's smile fell.

“At the Battle of Exegol, I figured something out that I've been getting a feeling about for a long time.” He let out a determined, quick sigh.

“Rey, I think I'm Force-sensitive.” She turned her focus into him and immediately detected an unusual amount of Force flowing through Finn's body – significantly more than in a non-Force-sensitive person.

How had she never noticed it before?

“You're right.” she breathed, amazed “This is incredible, you're Force-sensitive!”

“I want you to teach me the ways of the Force.” he said, decisive. Her smile vanished.

“Finn, I barely even finished my own Jedi training. How can you expect me to teach you?”

“Is there anyone else left who can?” Rey bit her lip, her eyes darting inside the palace.

“No. No way.”

“Finn, if it's a balanced education you want, there's no better way than learning from both of us.” He growled in frustration, running a hand through his short hair. She shrugged.

“In any case, you have a month to think it over.”

“I can't get you to change your mind?”

“Finn – I'm no teacher. I've never had to lead anyone. Half the time, I'm just acting on instinct and have no clue what I'm doing! Either way, Ben's just more experienced than I am.”

Finn stared at the ground a long minute before meeting her eyes.

“Fine. I'll think about it.” Rey knew this was the best she could hope for, for now. They embraced and said their goodbye's outside – away from Ben's eyes as a comfort to Finn, even though he could surely listen in on what they were saying to each other if he really wanted to.

Finn held her tight, no different than he had on Starkiller, on Crait.

His embrace had been the first from a friend she'd ever known.

“Take care of yourself, Rey. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble.” Finn murmured by her shoulder.

“I will.” she grinned.

Finn pondered for a moment.

“And don't get into trouble yourself, either.”

“No promises.”

With that, they released each other and went inside.

Rey almost became instantly dizzy – so many round rooms and vaulted ceilings, tall archways and columns, crystal windows brilliant with the sunlight that stretched to the ceiling, spiral staircases that seemed to climb to the skies.

“Alright Chewie, time to take off those cuffs – I'll snap on the ankle bracelet.” said Finn, crouching down to carry out the last part of his order.

The electronic cuffs released with a hiss, Ben rubbing his wrists once they were relieved of the pressure.

The ankle bracelet in question was jet-black, blinking with colored LEDs, and thin despite it's four-inch height. Once Ben removed his boot, it readily snapped on with an _click_. He was easily able to slip his boot back on, despite the extra girth.

“The alarm on that will go off if you get further than 800 yards from the palace grounds – or if it breaks. We'll be after you in matter of minutes if that thing makes so much as a squeak. And it's tied to your genetic signature – you can't pass it off to Rey and make it look like you're still here when you've long taken off.”

Ben furrowed his eyebrows at being ordered around by Finn, but didn't argue.

“Right.” he said, woodenly.

Finn then grabbed him roughly by the shoulder.

“And if hear even a whisper that you've attacked her – you're going to have to answer to me.” Ben could only roll his eyes. Finn was easily a head shorter than him.

“Finn-” Rey exclaimed, affronted. But just as quickly, Finn let him go.

“Bye Rey.” he said, shooting a smile in her direction. She bewilderingly returned it.

“Bye Finn.” she said, as Chewie leaned down to give both her and Ben bone-breaking hugs before following after Finn.

The palace doors slowly, silently, shut behind them.

Rey and Ben were suddenly alone, hazel eyes staring deep into brown.

“Are you starving? Because I could really go for some dinner.” Ben said.

Rey – just Rey – had never been what one might consider 'lady-like.' As such, she was not even remotely afraid to snort with laughter in front of her partner in the Force.


	7. VI.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey have dinner and explore their new quarters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update to compensate for the missed day. :)

VI.

Ben Solo had never been much of a cook.

But, being the son of a resourceful survivalist, and a hardened traditionalist, meant that there had been a few instances where both of his parents had taught him to cook something or other – separately, of course.

Leia would never have tolerated his father's sarcastic, overbearing presence in the kitchen when she was teaching the art of cooking.

Besides that, Ben Solo so often thought with his stomach that he could easily find food just about anywhere – thus, finding the fully-stocked kitchen in the massive palace was a cinch for him.

The room was airy – massive bay windows taking up the entire back wall and opening onto the gardens – with a humble wooden table, chairs, and cabinets carved from cedar, a heavy-duty work sink, a miniature sink for washing dishes, no shortage of cutlery or fine china, and warm, yellow, electric lighting to deal with any shadowy corners the sunlight did not illuminate.

“Alright, let's see what we've got to work with...” Ben muttered, beginning to root through the cabinets and ice box for ingredients for a simple broth.

“Since when can you cook?” Rey exclaimed from behind him. He forced himself to relax his wide grin as he turned to face her, fresh slab of Bantha steak in hand.

“Always with the tone of surprise...” he said, setting up the slab of meat on the wooden cutting board and rolling up his sleeves.

He called the carving knife to him out of the woodblock with the aid of the Force and began chopping up the steak in small cubes with the utmost precision.

“It's just – I imagine you had everything done for you...back when you...” Her smile vanished and she trickled to a stop, biting her lip, uncertain.

He tensed – he had no more idea how to proceed than she.

Even after all he'd told her, it was still difficult to talk about that part of his life. But she felt so uncomfortable...he would try to address it casually. For her.

Ben shrugged.

“For sure, Kylo Ren had his every need and whim attended to.” he said, sliding the chunks of meat off the board into the cast-iron pot he'd found under the sink, adding a small amount of oil and water to the mix.

“But Ben Solo, on the other hand, wouldn't soon forget the time he nearly set fire to the kitchen in his childhood home the first time his mother tried to teach him to fry varactyl eggs.” he said, the smallest grin gracing his lips.

Rey's happy smile was instantaneous, and Ben was only too glad to have put her at ease.

“And where was that childhood home, exactly?” Rey said, resting her head in her hands, elbows propped on the granite island counter.

“Coruscant,” said Ben over his shoulder, “would you mind getting some roots vegetables from the greenhouse for me?”

Rey jumped at the opportunity to have something to do, she was starving too and needed to distract herself.

“Anything specific?” she asked, already striding towards the double-layer temperature control glass doors that lead to the attached, humid, greenhouse garden that grew fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs right on the palace grounds.

“Pick anything you want – it's hard to go wrong with Bantha stew.”

She quickly dug up, and cleaned a handful of carrots, sweet peppers, and parsnips from the greenhouse at the tiny sink therein – not only was the humidity stifling, but she wanted to hurry back to Ben as quickly as possible.

She had about a million questions to ask him – wanted to hear everything he was willing to share about his childhood.

Rey placed her haul on the cutting board at the island for Ben to prepare and pulled up a stool across from him.

“So...you grew up on Coruscant?” Her tone was so melodiously flirtatious as she propped her head up again that Ben nearly choked on a laugh.

Instinct was still persuading him to bury the jubilant sound deep in his chest. It wasn't an easy habit to break.

In his mind, he was still fighting to keep his emotions neutral – though he no longer needed to.

“Yes – I did. That's generally where the kids of diplomats tend to grow up.” he said, making quick work of the vegetables, slicing the rough skin off the root vegetables, and gutting and slivering the peppers.

“What was it like?” she probed, her ever-curious eyes practically sparkling and making Ben feel terribly self-conscious about how much he was smiling.

Ben sputtered his lips as he dumped the vegetable medley into the pot and turned to face her.

“Like any other city-planet – crowded.” he deadpanned. Rey snorted.

Stars, he couldn't stop smiling.

“Not to mention loud, needlessly extravagant and boisterous, and everyone acted so serious all the time.” he said, brow furrowing as he vaguely recalled an ever-perplexing childhood.

“Is it any wonder you turned out the way you did?” she grinned.

Oh, how he wanted to give her a death glare.

But his diaphragm was spasming again and he couldn't rearrange his features into something threatening if he tried. Instead, he stared at her, wide-eyed.

“You take that back.”

“No!” she shrieked with laughter, stumbling off her stool, already starting to run.

“You take that back right now, Rey!”

He dropped the carving knife in the sink and rounded the island, but she'd already escaped to the other side.

He tried to chase her down or fake her out, but after all their fights together she was too used to this dance, taking one step away from him for every step he moved closer.

And she just kept _giggling_ at him!

Finally he got tired of the chase and vaulted over the island, holding her place with the Force so he could seize her in his arms.

Just as he grabbed her, Rey thrust out her palm and made his feet fly out from under him and they collapsed in a heap on the floor.

And despite all his careful years of conditioning and training and molding, Ben Solo laughed for the second time in as many days – long and loud, without a care in the world – Rey's laugh a high harmony beside his.

When he finally caught his breath again, it just as quickly left his lungs. Rey's hand was on his cheek, tenderly stroking the pale scar she'd given him with the biggest smile on her face.

“There's that wonderful laugh again.” she murmured.

She'd done all that, just to hear him laugh?

Ben felt his face flare with heat, and though he took a moment more to savor her touch, he quickly sat up and pulled away.

The excuse he gave himself as to why was that he didn't want their dinner to boil over.

The real reason was much simpler – his heart still raced at every one of her advances and he still didn't know quite how to react to such tender sweetness.

He didn't know that he felt as unworthy of it anymore...it more so, just, all so – _new_.

He frantically rooted through the drawers to find a wooden stirring spoon – suddenly clueless as to where the utensils were, but he found his prize nonetheless. He methodically stirred the stew as the unusual warmth slowly left his cheeks.

His shadow of a grin however, stayed firmly in place.

Rey's aura thrummed with happiness at how her antics had been received. She could hear his laugh a thousand times more and never tire of it.

To her, there wasn't a more beautiful sound.

“But really, what was it like, when you were a youngling?” Rey asked quietly, all mischief having fled from her voice.

Ben pondered the question, his memories whisking him back across the years as he set a timer for the stew and assembled a group of spices from the pantry. He shrugged as he pulled up a stool and sat down across from her.

“I suppose it was a charmed life, at least for a little while. Mum and Dad got along the best in those days – he was home more then, too. I spent most of the time in school, learning all the usual things – history, writing, languages, math, science – as well as the tools of my mother's trade. In the afternoons I'd climb behind the controls of that” he rolled his eyes affectionately “piece of junk space ship and Dad would teach me everything he knew. During the school holidays I'd spend a lot of time with Chewie – reading stories, playing strategy games, getting into trouble.”

He sighed slightly. “I didn't want for anything.”

Rey smiled softly, her eyes taking on a dreamy quality as she imagined a time when he was young and happy.

Brown eyes looked softly into hazel and he was quickly enraptured by the stillness, the warmth in them.

...Had she always had those constellations of freckles on her cheeks and nose?

Force, he was staring.

“Well, it sounds wonderful.” said Rey, laying her arms on the counter, completely at ease with him. He found himself envying her calm.

Ben shrugged, his pulse quickening again. What could he possibly ask her about her miserable childhood in turn that he didn't already know from his forceful probing of her mind?

The timer went off and saved him from having to continue. He added the spices in a flurry of activity, gambling on his ability to eyeball the amounts.

He took the tiniest sip of the near-boiling broth. Perfect.

He was hit with a mischievous stroke of inspiration.

“Want a taste?” he asked, turning to her, spoon in hand. Rey was immediately on her feet, rounding the island. He chuckled at her eagerness easily – starting to unlearn his dehumanizing habits.

“Careful, it's hot.” he murmured, as he tipped the spoonful into her mouth, savoring the moment he was able to delicately cup her chin in his hand and gaze unabashedly into her eyes.

Her eyes lit up as she swallowed.

“It's delicious!” He grinned, his canine's showing again with unbridled delight.

“Told you I could cook. Grab yourself a bowl and a spoon.” he said, nodding towards the right side cabinet as he removed the pot from the heat and levitated it over to the table, setting it on a cooling rack in middle and ladling out servings for both of them.

They sat down across from each other and tucked into the hearty stew – just spicy and robust enough to make for something simple but filling.

Rey didn't try to talk with her mouth full as she stated her stomach-rumbling hunger one spoonful at a time, instead focusing on the task at hand.

But as her stomach grew fuller, she kept stealing glances over the top of her bowl at him, when she thought he wasn't looking.

She'd never given it much thought before, what exactly her type was.

On Jakku, there had been little opportunity, and even less interest, in pursuing romance. She never would have considered going after a dark horse-type like him – she'd had more than enough troubles on her own as it was.

But the more she got to know him, the more she was starting to notice the little things that she found ridiculously attractive – the sharp angles of his profile, the gentle wave in his dark locks, the strength in his arms when he held her, his goofy smile, his barking laughter, his completely off-kilter sense of humor.

Of course, it was tricky to tell if she liked these characteristics all on their own, or if she liked them because they belonged to Ben.

One thing, however, was absolutely certain – she loved that Ben was a good cook.

_Why are you staring?_

Rey nearly dropped her soup bowl as she tilted it back to drink out the last drops.

“I'm sorry,” she said, her face immediately flaring up as she set down the porcelain dish. She smoothed her hair back compulsively. “I was lost in thought.” He smiled at her, plainly amused, but not mocking in the slightest.

“Rey, it's fine.” he said, looking a bit flushed himself. Rey giggled compulsively.

“What? You don't mind?” He swallowed a bit too forcefully, suddenly very interested in the unvarnished table.

_I...may or may not also have been looking..._

Now Rey's face was positively on fire.

_This is punishment for teasing him, isn't it?_ she thought, as she quickly snatched up their soup bowls and walked them over to the smaller sink in a hurry.

“So, what do you want to do now?” she said, setting down the bowls to clean later, fighting back her shyness with a change in conversation.

He rose from the table.

“Explore, I think. Like I said, I've never actually been here. I barely even know what's in this palace.” He glanced down at his fraying, torn shirt.

“Though I hope there's a closet with a change of clothes tucked away somewhere.” She smiled lightly, and, trying to take courage despite her racing heart, stepped up to Ben and easily slipped her hand into his.

“Sounds like a plan. Lead the way.”

And they set off, their faces wearing identical blushes.

* * * * *

It took the better part of the rest of the day to explore the Theed Royal Palace – the place was indeed as massive as Ben had predicted.

There were hundreds of quartz hallways lined with thick columns and dozens of gold and bronze staircases – so many looked identical.

“If I get completely lost, do I have your permission to use our bond to orient myself or to find you again?” asked Rey, embarrassed, the third time she'd gotten turned around.

“You have to ask?” he said, smiling softly.

Most of the rooms downstairs were intended for receiving guests; there were a number of plush parlors, conference rooms for meetings, two dining rooms (one with an impossibly large round table, and the other a long, rectangular one), and an opulent ball room that easily took up a quarter of the ground floor.

Rey marveled at every intricate detail of the architecture, from the gilded, carved door handles, to the chaise couches you could sink into – and though Ben drank up her joy like a cold glass of water during the hottest part of Tatooine's day, it was coupled with an equal sadness that she could never have imagined such luxury before, having grown up with nothing.

“ _I'm going to try to give her everything she's missed out on, if I can_.” he promised himself as he grinned at her, laid back with her feet up on one of the couches, not a care in the world.

The gardens proved nearly impossible to drag Rey away from; she could have happily spent the next week outside smelling the fragrant blossoms, strolling among the statues, soaking in the sight of all that viridian life, and sleeping under the stars.

However, Ben's pursuit of finding a clean shirt, and better yet, a bathroom to shower in, were insistent. Only when he reminded her that she had a whole month to explore the gardens was he able to pull her back inside.

The second level contained a rather quiet engine room that Rey immediately wanted to tinker with and repair, the servants quarters (including a room for doing the laundering) a large wing hidden behind the only mysteriously locked door in the palace, and, of course...

“Oh wow...” Rey murmured as she floated up the malachite stairs in a daze.

Dead ahead of them was a velvet throne, the strong, angular, supporting base cut from marble. In front was a semicircle conference table-like structure, making the throne room look more like a sophisticated queen's office.

Ben's hesitant hand reached out and stroked the throne's velvet armrest.

Rey instantly felt his unease.

“Are you alright?” she asked. He plucked his hand away and swallowed.

“Fine. It's just...” he turned in a complete circle, brow furrowed “I can't help but feel like there's a connection to this place. It's...not as if my grandmother's still here, haunting the palace – just...a strange familiarity, like a dream I can't quite remember. Or, maybe a...parallelism...” he murmured, so lost in thought he bumped into the desk in his musing.

He turned quickly and caught the shifting furniture, the breath of a chuckle passing over his lips.

“I'm not making any sense, am I?” he smiled, so uncertain and boyish. Rey gently grinned back.

“On the contrary, it's how I felt when Luke's lightsaber called out me on Takodana – a pull and a strange...familiar feeling.”

They pressed on, leaving the locked wing for another time.

Upstairs there were a number of guest bedrooms, and, to Ben's relief, showers and no shortage of fine clothes.

Rey's eyes grew wide as dinner plates at the sight of the cream-colored walk-in closet they found in the massive master bedroom (complete with a red satin bed big enough for ten [Rey's words, not his]).

Her fingers ran compulsively over the iridescent silk and satin gowns, dark velvet capes, and all manner of luxurious fabrics.

“How am I ever going to find something normal to wear in here?” Ben's chuckle from the doorway was positively adorable.

“Leave it to you, scavenger, to look at an entire room full of the clothes of royalty and complain that none among them are practical.” Rey rolled her eyes at him, but took heart as she found simpler, white cotton robes at the back of the closet – much more her style.

“I'm gonna go shower and change in the guest room down the hall. I'll be back in a bit.” Ben said, turning out of closet at the sight of her affirming smile.

It was then that Rey realized she felt absolutely filthy as well. When had she last showered anyway?

Her face went red with the realization that she couldn't remember when she had, as she hurried to the master bedroom's adjoining bathroom.

Inside the walls were decorated in gentle, sky-blue tile, and the colossal white porcelain bath tub had a tall golden shower-head as well as a normal spout. Every shampoo and soap was laced with one kind of floral scent or another – honey and marigold, rose and lavender – and what followed had to be the most luxurious shower of Rey's life.

Before heading back to the closet in the plush, white bathrobe she'd found, Rey was stopped by the sight of her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

She squinted at herself.

Something seemed...slightly off somehow. She tilted her head and pondered.

Was her nose bigger than usual? No, that wasn't it.

Her freckles darker than normal, or more numerous? No, they seemed about the same.

Her cheeks fuller, since she'd been eating properly? No, couldn't be.

Her eyes more tired from lack of sleep? Probably, but she didn't think that made much of a difference.

She shook her head, thinking she was being silly feeling strange in her own skin. Her reflection was no different than it had been in the mirror shard she'd kept with her on Jakku.

At most, she was only a little bit older.

Indecisive with what to do about her hair, she rubbed it as thoroughly dry as she could with a towel and decided to let the warm Naboo air do the rest, leaving the strands loose.

Maybe it would dry in cute, curling waves like it had the one time it had air-dried after her fall into the mirror pool on Ahch-To.

Rey walked back to the closet in downy soft slippers and got to thinking. It was easy enough to pull a white slip-like romper – not too different from her own clothes – off the rack.

But just next to it was flowy ivory dress, still incredibly simple and wrap-like, the only difference was that she wouldn't need leggings to accompany it. And her boots would suit it perfectly.

She couldn't remember the last she'd worn a dress, so with a hesitant smile, she changed into clean bindings and undergarments and threw the dress over her head, tugging it on.

Once glance in the full-length mirror in the alcove at the back and she stilled.

She looked...pretty.

Genuinely quite lovely.

She'd never looked like that before.

She stepped closer, marveling. Rey generally felt clueless when it came to traditionally feminine things like hairdos and makeup, but all the same, just wearing a dress that suited her, with confidence, made all the difference.

At any rate, she figured she could learn how to do all that feminine stuff with practice if she really wanted to – so what if she was learning it a little later than most? All women started from square one, didn't they?

Still, it was strange to even want to learn in the first place – it had never been a concern of hers before.

She chalked it up to her survivalist nature and vital needs coming first.

All the same, Rey pondered, turning to face the rest of the opulent closet. A smart place to start would be figuring out what other styles of clothing also suited her.

She began to walk down the line, letting her curiosity run wild. She pulled one item of clothing off the rack after another – dresses and gowns, capes and shifts, robes and slacks.

Layers and tops and coats and a plentiful quantity of shoes, simple and unusual, heeled and flat, dazzling and dull.

The small chest of drawers tucked in the middle of the closet, she discovered, was filled with all manner of fine and sparkling accessories. Rey chose to believe none of them were actually made with precious stones – the sheer, self-indulgent extravagance of the chest of jewels would have made her sick otherwise, not to mention just uncomfortable to be around.

She picked out a few small, simple pieces to try – having unpierced ears, she could only wear the necklaces and bracelets anyway.

The rainbow of fabric flew over her head – red, violet, pink, blue, orange, white, green, and black. Shimmering like diamonds, guilded like gold, opalescent like gemstones.

She gathered the slowly growing pile of clothing on a pouf chair, gently setting them down with the Force. Then she positioned herself in front of the mirror and began to experiment.

She very quickly learned that poufy ballgowns (regardless of color) were not for her, but that she was surprisingly decent in walking in shoes with reasonably tall heels, having such a good sense of balance from her Jedi training.

She was favoring lighter colored fabrics that emphasized her sun-kissed skin tone, but wasn't opposed to single-tone, dark, cool colors either. Everything glinting with sparkle or precious metal tones was too gaudy for her.

Most anything with slacks felt both sophisticated and comfortable, and the capes made for a bit of ridiculously dramatic and fun flair (though most were far too heavy for everyday wear).

Wearing anything bright pink or orange made her look like a citrusy star fruit in comparison, and while she looked very elegant in black, for obvious reasons, she didn't feel comfortable wearing the color.

There was an abhorrent style of long dress that hugged her hips and legs all the way down to her ankles and made it nearly impossible to walk in – she nearly fell over and ripped it while wearing it, multiple times.

She revisited some simple ballgowns a few times, trying which shoes suited them best. In the end, the duo she fell in love with was a dark blue silken gown with a figure-hugging bodice that showed off her bare shoulders, which had a gently flowing, bell-shaped skirt, and a pair of sturdy, sparkly silver heels.

She almost didn't recognize the iridescent smile on her face and subtle glow in her cheeks as she stared at herself in the mirror. She bit her lip, hoping she looked as grown-up as she felt, because she wanted to seem mature and attractive to -

“Of course,” she muttered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut at her foolishness. She'd wanted to find something she could look good in, feel good in, in the hopes of pleasing him as well. How could she be so dim?

Suddenly she didn't feel like a mature woman anymore, she felt like a little girl playing dress-up in her mother's closet.

She tried to shake the awful feeling from her mind as she struggled to unzip the ballgown at the back and returned her favored selection of clothes to a blank space on the rack with an inclination of her head – the Force taking care of the rest.

She was fine, she had to believe that. She had been weaker, more susceptible to hurt and manipulation when she had relied on the love of others to confirm her existence (namely, her missing parents).

She had to have faith in herself that she was enough – she was all she had, and she was hardly lacking in talent or intelligence or resourcefulness.

But she had to admit to herself, when it came to matters of believing in her beauty, she was a little shaky.

_And this damned zipper wouldn't come undone!_

She tried to ease it loose with the Force, a gentler method than doing it with her fumbling fingers, but it still required a delicate focus and careful finesse, akin to entering a meditative state.

Finally though, the zipper came undone and she relaxed.

She was about to wiggle out of the bodice of the dress when Ben appeared in the doorway.

“Rey, I'm back-”

She shrieked and forced him out of the doorway, slamming the door shut behind him.

“ _DAMMIT BEN, KNOCK OR SOMETHING!!_ ” she yelled, retreating into the mirror alcove and shucking off the dress, forcing the ivory colored dress over her head that she'd set her eyes on first.

“ _I'm sorry!!_ Rey, I'm so sorry, I should've announced myself! It was an accident!!” he exclaimed, his words barely getting out between his peals of uproarious laughter.

“ _Oh certainly, I'm SO inclined to believe you when you're howling with laughter!!_ ” Rey retorted, shoving her feet into her practical Jedi boots, nearly losing her balance in the process.

The moment she was dressed, she charged back out of the room, throwing the door open with the Force.

Ben hadn't moved from where she'd launched him, and though the move to slap his shoulder was lightning fast, he easily caught her wrist.

“You absolute scoundrel!” she exclaimed, but she was hard-pressed to keep herself from smiling too.

“Why did you leave the door open?!” he exclaimed, still laughing. She twisted her wrist from his grip.

“Maybe because we're the only two people here, and I thought I'd hear you coming?!”

“Apologies, oldest Sith trick in the book, learning to walk silently.” he said, with total boyish sarcasm.

She rolled her eyes and took a moment to note the clean clothes he'd thrown on were modest too, a simple sweater and dark pants to go with his old boots.

The thing that made her heart sink strangely was that he was still dressed in all black.

He felt this sliver of deep blue disheartening and decided to change the conversation before she could ask about his choice of clothing.

“Follow me, there's something you're going to want to see.” he said, inclining his head towards the door, already starting to lead the way.

“You went exploring without me, too?” she laughed.

“No, I saw it from my window, c'mon.” he grinned.

They proceeded all the way back downstairs and towards the right-hand side, rear corner of the palace – opposite the kitchens.

A pair of gilded glass double-doors opened onto a covered marble walkway that wound through the back gardens and disappeared into the distance, ending up...somewhere.

Rey tried to sneak her way into Ben's mind to catch what he'd seen out his window but his thoughts were carefully guarded so as not to spoil the surprise.

When they reached the end of the path, Rey decided it had been worth the wait.

At the bottom of the hill was a marble pavilion, and just beyond it, a rocky shoreline and a broad, azurite lake that stretched clear to the horizon and gleamed with the fiery colors of the sunset. A towering pine forest surrounded the lake on all sides and the clouds above were radiant with pink and gold hues.

Rey gasped and took off at a sprint.

“Rey, wait up!” Ben exclaimed in surprise, his footfalls becoming her own personal echo as she charged down the landing, leapt over the short staircase from pavilion to shore, and promptly shedded her boots, letting the temperate waters reach up to her ankles and soothe her.

“I think I've found where I want to live for the rest of my life.” she said breathed, aura zinging with joy. Ben chuckled at her shoulder.

“That's all it takes, a few hours of discovery and you're sold?”

“Oh certainly,” she teased, turning to meet his eyes. She started at how close he stood to her, arms loosely crossed, mass of dark hair being ruffled by a warm breeze, but she didn't move deeper into the water away from him.

She was starting to get used to this proximity, by degrees. She might even try to kiss him again before the day let out.

Somehow it had been so much easier to do when he was upset or nearly dying – more an act of comfort than one of passion...

Stars, passion, had she ever even _thought_ to label her feelings towards someone else as passionate? And yet, here was this boyish-man, who'd not so long ago been her mortal enemy, and she wanted nothing more than to lean back and have him wrap his arms lovingly around her shoulders and–

“You're doing it again.”

Rey rolled her eyes.

“I'm not apologizing for staring twice.” she retorted, turning her gaze to the horizon, and away from his sparkling hazel eyes. She glanced back at him and down, puzzling over the water-logged leather of his boots.

“They're going to get ruined if you keep standing in the water with them on.” Ben shrugged.

“Better my boots than a fried tracking bracelet.” Rey sputtered.

“Did you not just shower with that thing on?”

Ben's eyes scrunched closed and his cheeks turned pink. Rey's stomach shook with giggles she couldn't hope to restrain. He sighed.

“Point taken.” he said, bending down and removing his boots with every ounce of stubborn resignation he could muster.

He stepped into the water at her side – the tracking bracelet not even beeping indignantly at contact with the water – his aura calming at the contact with nature to match her own.

Rey's mind couldn't help but wander back to his choice of clothes, despite his efforts to distract her with beauty of the palace's grounds. But she decided not to open with that subject.

Having him stand a breath away from her made her feel strangely nostalgic and got her thinking about wide-open futures and other lives – ones where there might have been no obstacles in their coming together and they were just two young people, together by choice.

“If you could have done it all again, lived another life, at another time, do you think you could've called this planet home?” she asked softly, not wanting to disturb the peace of his mind.

“I guess it's possible,” he murmured “I always liked the stories I heard about this place. I just – never got around to visiting.” He sighed.

“Of course, in the grand scheme of things, where I lived is hardly the chief thing I would change.”

Shoot, she could feel his Force tightening back up again, a protective, shadowy coil, hiding behind carefully constructed walls.

Well, she'd certainly stacked the deck now – might as well topple it.

“Were all the clothes in the guest bedroom closet black, or...?” Leaving the question hanging in the silence made Rey feel more foolish than she already did.

He threw up more walls in his mind, growing uncomfortable.

“I just...picked out what felt most comfortable. It was a force of habit, a reflex.” She turned to face him, staring brazenly into his eyes. There it was again, that forlorn, lost look she'd seen glimpses of before in Kylo's eyes, now on full display in Ben's.

Rey chose her next words very carefully, hesitantly.

“If that's what felt most comfortable...then fine, by all means, choose that. But Ben...know that the world is wide open now...you can be however you want to be, choose whatever path in life you want-”

“I know, Rey.”

“Then why did you-”

“ _Rey._ ”

His tone was clear: 'Stop talking. Leave well-enough alone.'

But she kept her eyes on his and sent gentle, soothing feelings across their bond, silent reassurances that he could tell her anything, and his gaze gradually softened.

“You're lucky, Rey.” he smiled, sadly, “You've had the constant of being mutable, changeable, your entire life. You were never the same, even from moment to moment, choosing your battles, your morals, your values as they suited you. I've been on an arrow-straight path for most of my life and now that the doors are wide open...” he stuttered to a halt, licked his lips.

“...I don't know _what_ to do...” he said, tearing his gaze from hers painfully, “My future's never been so open, and yet, so unclear. So, I just-” he gestured down at his clothes “stuck to what I know.”

He grimaced.

“And, at any rate, even if I am acquitted, it's not as if the galaxy is just going to suddenly let me do whatever I want – I doubt they'd even let me be a Jedi teacher if that's what I chose, I'd never be let near even the smallest position of influence ever again.”

She was already shaking her head.

“Ben – do you think _I_ have any idea of what _my_ future holds – even a semblance of a clue?” He sighed.

“Maybe not, but Rey, the difference is no one will hold that against you. Whatever you choose to do the galaxy will make peace with it and you'll find some way to be incredible at it, I'm sure.” he said, frustrated.

Rey, however, found her cheeks were warming again.

“Was that – almost a compliment?” she said, eyes half-lidded and tone conspiratorial.

The tiniest smile turned the corners of his mouth.

“Almost.” he said. Rey slowly reached up and uncrossed his arms, slipping her hands into his and holding them tight.

“If you'd like, we could use this month to our advantage – figure out what you're really good at and what type of life you'd want to pursue.”

He clicked his tongue at her in faux annoyance.

“Scavenger, that's hardly a fair trade.” She gasped in mock offense, dropping his hands, their bond already pulsing with his mischievous warmth.

“Well then, make it worth my while.” she countered.

He pondered this request and answered methodically, his serious poker face finally coming to his aid in his time of need.

“Let's see then – you'll help me discover my talents and figure out potential career paths an ex-Supreme Leader could pursue...and in turn...I'll teach you everything I know about the Force – and throw in a few bonus lessons as well.”

“Bonus lessons?” Rey intoned, pretending to be extraordinarily skeptical and suspicious of him.

“I take it you don't know how to swim, for example?” he said, nodding at the lake behind her.

“Or that you aren't familiar with etiquette or the way to carry yourself at award ceremonies and dinner parties – which, you'll surely be invited to in droves, you are the hero that saved the galaxy, after all.”

She sighed languidly.

“Yes, I suppose you have a point.” she admitted, begrudgingly. She held out her hand to him.

“You've got yourself deal, Ben Solo.” He took her hand and shook it firmly, his mischievous smile starting to peek through his dire expression.

“Well then, we'd better get started right away.” he said.

Before Rey even knew what was happening, Ben had hoisted her up in his arms and started carrying her deeper into the water.

“NO! BEN! STOP!! I CAN'T SWIM!!” Rey shrieked, trying to kick out of his hold, but his grip around her shoulders and under her knees wouldn't give, and his raucous laughter wasn't helping.

Just a few steps in and the water was already up to his knees.

“BEN, SERIOUSLY! TAKE ME BACK!!”

One well-placed jab of her elbow into his stomach and Ben stumbled and they both went flying into the water.

They came up for air, completely drenched and equal parts laughing and yelling at each other. Rey didn't hesitate before chasing after Ben through the waist-high water back to shore, screaming obscenities the whole way.

Eventually, she caught up to him and attempted to land at least one good blow on him, trying to slap any part of him she could reach – his elbow, his shoulder, his chest, his head, but he kept side-stepping out of her reach.

She called a tree branch to her hand with the Force, but Ben met her assault with a block from a piece of driftwood of his own, resulting in a thoroughly water-logged, sloppy, and dizzying sparring match that ended with them collapsing onto the shore, laughing their heads off and not even remotely upset with one another.

They sat up and let the direct light of the setting sun dry them off, lapsing into a comfortable silence.

It was almost a meditative state, Rey thought, just sitting here with him and reveling in their mutual happiness. She could live a whole string of days like this, where nothing and everything happened, and not tire of them.

Ben's thoughts were much the same, but while Rey kept her eyes on the horizon's fading, rose light and the slowly emerging stars, he gazed at her – calm and whole and the happiest he'd maybe ever been.

How fortunate was he to have found a dyad in the Force that he could laugh with, and fight alongside, who delighted in doing both, equally?

The tiniest shadow of a memory pricked his subconscious and instantly took him back a great number of years to a different lake-shore, a difficult fishing trip, and a much more grizzled companion.

Ben could no longer remember the question he'd asked, but he could hear his father's answer as clearly as he had that day.

“Well Ben, you're probably asking the wrong person about this sort of stuff – don't tell your mother, but I'm no expert when it comes to committed relationships. But,” he said, sighing at the eagerness in his son's eyes, his bottomless capacity for burning questions.

“I'll say this much: you'll know she's the one when she'll tolerate you at your worst, and push you to do better than your best...oh! And you'll love each other so much that you'll drive each other crazy.”

A feeling Ben couldn't place coiled around his heart as he was yanked back to the present.

He was sure he'd felt...something like this in his life, before – but not in a long, long time.

It was like being reunited with an old friend, or a childhood pet that hadn't aged a day. It was like finding an ancient and rumpled, crib-companion, plush toy in the gardens, and rediscovering yourself in the process.

It was youthful, peaceful, hopeful even.

It was like everything in the world, suddenly and inexplicably – and even if it was just for a moment – made sense.

He realized with a start that the feeling was certainty.

The future in front of him was bright and hazy and treacherous to navigate, but one thing was a crystal-clear certainty, like looking through a perfectly cut kyber – he wanted Rey at his side, no matter what.

It all made such perfect, impossible sense in that moment that Ben thought he'd been hit over the head – he saw stars.

Staring at her, haloed by the setting sun, he realized he loved her.

Wholly and ardently, unapologetically even – and most definitely foolishly and brazenly.

He let out the tiniest breath of astonishment and promptly threw up his walls – he didn't want her to know it from reading his emotions meanderingly, he wanted to tell her himself, when he was ready.

The sudden, forceful, cold snap in Ben's emotions made Rey instantly uncomfortable. She assumed he'd gotten bored.

Feeling nearly completely dry now, she decided she was starting to feel sleepy enough to call it a night.

“Would you,” she swallowed roughly “would you like to go back inside?” she offered, much more stilted than before.

Ben cringed, he was making her feel uncomfortable, he could see the yellow flashes in her aura.

He parted his curtains just a little, disclosing a tiny piece of his joy and contentment to her again – he didn't want to keep a happy secret at the cost of creating a hurtful disconnect from Rey.

“Sure, I wouldn't mind.” he said, as gentle and courteous as he could be.

He stood and shoved on his abandoned boots, making it a point to offer her his arm to lean on as she slipped on hers. As such, as they started the easy walk back up the hill, he let his hand travel down her arm until their fingers intertwined.

She wasn't inclined to make any sort of flirty comment, but he felt the little bright red flare in her essence – a tiny spark of affection, and he smiled to think he could do that for her.

He was following her lead as to a plan of what to do next, but upon making it inside, Rey let out the biggest, Wookiee-like yawn he'd ever seen.

“Tired, are we?” he asked with an easy smile. She looked up at him sleepily.

“It has been an awfully long day – I think I'll turn in.” she said, fighting through another yawn to speak. “If you don't mind, I'll take the giant bed in the master bedroom.” she said as they proceeded upstairs. He grinned.

“It's all yours.”

He only released her hand when they reached the door of her suite, fingers gently and longingly slipping out of her grasp and brushing over her palm.

He was instantaneously hit with the insane desire to join her in said giant bed, to sleep by her side and hold her close to him, but it was too soon.

They'd barely even kissed much.

It was then he realized _he_ hadn't even kissed _her_.

Not properly anyway.

And they were just standing there, staring at each other, with Rey hesitating in the doorway, so sweet in her uncertainty.

He could be such a kriffing idiot sometimes.

He sensed every ounce of hesitation from her, not out of fear, but out of a respect for space, for not moving too quickly. She seemed to feel that she'd already wonderfully stretched his limits by flirting and laughing with him today.

He was starting to disagree.

And his heart was starting to beat frantically against his rib cage.

“Goodnight, Ben. Sleep well.” Rey said, sweet and gentle, looking utterly enchanting with the soft waves that had formed in her hair. She was starting to shut the door on him-

“Rey, wait!” he stopped the door with his hand, heart in his throat.

“Yes, Ben?” she pulled it open again.

One quick draw of breath and he pulled her into his arms, hands pressed against her back as he attempted to mold his lips softly against hers. He had little experience in such matters, but he figured he couldn't go wrong by keeping his caresses gentle and tender, enveloping her mouth with his own.

Her arms rose from her sides and wound around his neck and the euphoria was instantaneous. He pressed his mouth against hers with just a little more pressure, savoring her warmth, and then gently backed away to arm's length.

She was smiling brilliantly and he could hardly catch his breath. He tried to bully his voice into working order as he swallowed.

“Goodnight, Rey.” he murmured, hoping he came across as endearing. Her essence was positively glowing.

“Goodnight, Ben.” she whispered, oh, so slowly slipping out of his grasp and back into her room, shutting the door between them with a little dreamy smile on her face that made his pulse flutter.

He planted his hands on his knees, bent his head and drew in a deep, low breath.

He was going to feint.

He was going to feint, or be sick, or something.

But a good two minutes of deep breathing passed and he was fine.

He laughed at himself, and how his father would have surely made some sarcastic comment about a first kiss (or third, in this case), hardly being something to get so worked up about.

He walked down the hall to his room, feeling as if he was on top of the world.

Force, that had been amazing.

He should've done that sooner.

Ben Solo, for the first time in ages, fell asleep in a proper bed with biggest smile on his face that night, genuinely eager for what wonderful possibilities tomorrow would bring.


	8. VII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben's first night in Theed Palace on Naboo doesn't exactly go as planned.
> 
> This chapter contains elements of body horror.

VII.

Rey – just Rey – was no stranger to nightmares.

She'd had hundreds of them in the course of her life.

Most she couldn't remember.

Many had been about the terrible fate of her parents, or else, reliving them leaving her behind.

In recent years, there'd been storms of darkness, unfamiliar islands, shadowy, evil reflections of herself she died fighting, and a reoccurring hunt where she was being chased by a masked monster she was never quite able to outrun.

Ben had yet to appear in her dreams _as_ Ben.

And she had thought, when he would, it would be a great comfort to her.

_It was like becoming conscious in the center of a hurricane. One moment, there was silence – and the next all the sounds of the world came rushing up out of the black to crash against her eardrums. Pounding earth, roaring wind, thrumming life, suffocating in its sheer volume._

_She sat up with a horrible, retching gasp._

_No matter what anyone claimed, coming back to life was not a beautiful, elegant process like waking from sleep._

_It was a drag back to a world of pain and hurt by a dark Master far crueler than Death._

_It was with rattling breaths that she realized, with horror, exactly where she was – she wouldn't forget the midnight-blue shadows, the intoned, life-pulse of an ancient darkness, nor the cruel, razor-sharp volcanic rock of Exegol against her raw palms for as long as she lived._

_And yet, for all the torture her subconscious could conjure up, there was a moment where there was a glimmer of peace._

_Her weakened body was being supported by strong, familiar arms. She lifted her lead-weight head._

_There he was, holding her; beautiful in his hope, his vulnerability, the ache of his soul for her to be alright that she felt like the strongest painkiller, soothing all her cuts and wounds in the wake of it._

_“Ben,” she breathed, daring to hope that he'd come back to her, as she'd seen in a vision what felt like a lifetime ago._

_She reached up a weary arm and stroked his cheek, watching, transfixed, as muscles that hadn't had reason to smile in years attempted to bully themselves back into working order. Tears of relief and joy were glittering in his eyes, and she acted on pure instinct when she closed the gap between them and kissed him, ardently._

_Yes, she was here, she was back, she was alright, and he was right here with her._

_They were finally, finally together, unencumbered, unrestricted, a whole dyad, a complete partnership._

_She pressed all that lovingly against his mouth and more, a reciprocated promise that they wouldn't part again was kneaded into her back, her very spine, by his gentle palms._

_The smile he offered her when they came up for air was filled with starlight and lit her like a candle taking to flame._

_Then, the tiniest shift. Like something was slipping out of her grasp, though his face stayed squarely between her palms._

_The shock and horror hit her like sandstorm – it wasn't a physical shift at all, it was his essence pulling away from hers, the completeness of the dyad severing and slipping and straining._

_She reached out with her feelings and coiled her tendrils of light around his, her grip like iron._

No Ben, don't you dare!! Don't you DARE disappear on me!!! _her essence screamed, even as the solar flares were spitting and snapping, whipping like lightning bolts out of the dark, stinging her and weakening her hold._

Ben, please, STAY WITH ME!!!

_But then his body became wracked with shudders, convulsing horribly and his strength failed him._

_He cracked his head against the rock as his pale body fell back, shaking and shuddering, a black, chunky, mucousy, tar-like substance starting to ooze from his staring, blank eyes, and burble up from his open, choking mouth. Rey tore her hands away with a scream as the horrible dark puss burned her hands, leaving angry, red welts where they touched her._

BEN, NO!! WAKE UP!! BEN, DON'T LEAVE ME!!! _she screamed, feeling the sound tearing at her throat, her vocal chords raw with the effort._

_She tried to keep purchase on him anywhere she could, but now his whole body was starting to dissolve into the sticky, rotten meat-smelling tar. Nothing of him would remain, no life-force that could ascend, no body to bury._

_He was born in darkness and he would die in it._

_The last piece of him to melt into the foul blackness were his glassy dead eyes._

_Rey screamed and screamed and screamed, but no amount of yelling or cursing the Force or begging that he be brought back to her would save his decomposing body._

_She scrabbled in the puss in vain to find some piece of him she could keep, but only emerged with raw, nearly skeletal hands, the skin burned clean off her muscles._

_The pain made her wish she were dead._

“ _ **BEN!!!**_ ” she screamed, with every sinew and bone and drop of blood in her body, her head dizzy with the loss of breath, her soul cracked in two with the effort.

She was covered in cold sweat and shaking, her face smeared with tears, sitting up in strange, tall, dark room, in a luxurious silken bed that couldn't be hers, wearing a soaked-through cotton sleeping shift she'd never seen before in her life.

Rey buried her heads in her hands and started to sob, to mourn, to shriek. He was gone, gone where she couldn't follow, couldn't retrieve him from, couldn't even speak to him again. There had been no goodbyes, no last 'I love you's' exchanged with the Force as their sole witness, nothing.

How could life be so impossibly cruel?

She felt her heart was surely going to break and never recover when she heard doors banging open down the hall as if someone was attempting to tear them off their hinges, followed by pounding, accelerating footsteps that made the walls vibrate with their echo.

Rey was bewildered right up until the moment that Ben flung open the door and stared across the dark room at her, gasping for breath.

... _Oh stars, it had all been a_ _ **dream**_ _..._

“Ben...” she choked out, and he nearly tripped over himself in his haste to reach her and gather her up in his arms.

“I'm here. I'm here, Rey, _I'm here_.” he murmured against the top of her head as she sobbed against his shoulder.

“ _I dreamt that you died!_ ” she wailed, tears readily staining his shirt. “ _We were in the crater on Exegol – I couldn't do anything to save you!!_ ” And she dissolved into meaningless bawling as her shoulders shook and Ben held her tight, cooing gentle reassurances in her ear.

“I'm alive Rey – I'm not going anywhere, I promise you.” he breathed, planting little kisses against her forehead and temples, brushing them against her cheeks.

After several long minutes she managed to catch her breath and calm down again. She burrowed herself deep on his side of the bond, his essence coddling her, almost swallowing her whole, but she didn't care about losing her consciousness in his – she only wanted to feel him as strongly around her as she could so as to drive the memory of him slowly slipping away from her head.

She pulled away an inch to mop at her eyes and then promptly returned her head to his shoulder, fingers twining around the hair at the nape of his neck, her breath a soft puff of warmth against his cheek.

She bit her lip and made a snap decision – largely motivated by the cyclone of fear in her veins.

“Stay with me.” she said, equal parts question and request. “I'm scared to sleep alone.” The tender kiss he placed against her cheek was grace incarnate.

“I know the feeling.”

Even though it was for the express purpose of comforting her, there was still the lingering sense of awkward tension between them as they clambered back up to the head board and laid their heads on the silken pillows, side by side, brown eyes boring into hazel.

Rey had certainly never lain with anyone, with passionate intents or otherwise. From the hesitance she sensed from him – no longer buried in his energy but back within arm's-length, so to speak – she doubted that he had either.

With a flick of his fingers, Ben righted the tangled, fly-away sheets and pulled the comforter over them.

Every inch of her felt a pull to him, a want to be enveloped in his arms again. But the desire was so strong, so longing, that she shied away from it. Ben's sleepy mind barely noted the fiery, flustered red her essence had become.

Rey tended to rest her hand by her head when she laid on her side, and did so now, hoping he'd at least take it as invitation to hold it again. But Ben kept a respectful distance, sending calm and affection in flashes of pink, peach, and blue across their bond, instead, with the aim of helping her sleep again.

“Goodnight, Rey,” he said, a breath above a whisper, eyes slipping shut. But she was already starting to tremble, even as she was starting to drift off again – her mind somehow knowing it was just going to drift back to that dark place, heart pounding against her rib cage in earnest.

Her fear won out over whatever lingering shyness she felt.

“Ben,” she said, cringing as her voice came out louder than she intended.

“Mmmm?” he hummed, blinking open one eye. She held out her hand in demonstration, her spasms visible even in the dark.

“I won't stop shaking – please hold me.” Rey wished the request sounded less desperate, but she wasn't about to take it back.

There was sadness in his gaze as he gathered his arms around her and she shifted closer to him. But she forgot about the look instantly once he enfolded her.

She could feel everything, the swell of his chest as he drew breath, the thrum of his pulse in his arms, the brush of his hair against her cheek, the warmth his body pressed into hers. She breathed deeply and her heart immediately started to calm.

This was a feeling unlike any she'd felt in ages – for a scavenger, there was no greater joy or luxury than safety, and she felt like nothing could ever harm her so long as she stay wrapped in his cocoon.

She shifted her arms delicately and wrapped them around the wide breadth of his chest, nuzzling into his shoulder fondly.

She thought she felt his breaths get off rhythm for a moment, but she dismissed it as her mind playing tricks on her as she was drifting off. He inclined his head and rested it against her neck with a warm, languid sigh that sent shivers down her spine.

“Thank you, Ben.” she murmured as sleep reclaimed her.

Rey wasn't quite sure come morning if he answered back, but her subconscious seemed to recall a low hum of affirmation.


	9. VIII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben educates Rey about tea over breakfast, and they attempt to repair the generator housed on the third floor of the palace.

VIII.

Ben Solo was not particularly a morning person.

By his nature, he never had been. He'd always been late to breakfast during Jedi training and taking after his mother, the night owl, didn't help the matters of egregious chores dished out as punishment, at all.

As a First Order lackey, he had managed somehow – pain of death, as it turned out, could be a great motivator to get one out of bed in the morning.

This was, all to say, that when Ben Solo woke up, he woke up slowly. He never immediately opened his eyes, he always let his other senses reorient him in the conscious world.

He rapidly awoke however, when nothing his senses detected made sense.

There wasn't supposed to be some rose-scented, silken-haired, curvy, fleshy, nubile thing in his arms.

He hadn't actually dared to ask Rey if he could sleep in her bed last night, had he?!

But no, he recalled, memories of waking to sheer terror coming back to him.

He'd felt her agony in the dead of night and had shot of bed, the only lucid thought in his head being “get to her, just get to her.”

Then the wonderful girl had asked him to stay, to hold her in his arms as she nodded off.

And now, there she still was, her palms at his back, their legs entangled, and the golden sunlight of morning actually had the nerve to refract through the tall, rounded windows and dance over her face, illuminating her pristine features with a heavenly glow.

He felt pleasantly warm as his pulse fluttered, and yet his heart still somehow managed to swoon as she started to stir awake. She murmured something that sounded vaguely like his name as she burrowed into his arms and made him blush at her proximity.

“Um...Rey?” he muttered, trying to veer her actions back towards the realm of easy flirtation where he felt comfortable and in control of his emotions.

“ _Ben..._ ” she breathed against his collarbone, and his shivers were so strong that his whole body convulsed.

“ _Rey, not that I'm not enjoying this, but please wake up. You might end up embarrassing yourself if this continues on much longer..._ ” he whispered in a rush, squeezing her shoulders urgently. To his relief, Rey pulled away and blearily opened her eyes.

“Ben...?” she asked, adorably sleepy. He breathed a tiny sigh of relief.

“Good morning, Rey.” he said, returning the little smile she gave him.

“Why are you...? – Oh, right.” she muttered as she stretched, no longer restricting Ben's movements with her arms, tenting the comforter with her reach.

“Thank you for staying with me.”

He planted a small peck on her forehead.

“As if I'd have done anything else – I felt everything that nightmare made you feel.” Rey shuddered at the memory.

He decided to test the waters, running his hand up and down her arm.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Rey's brow creased at the request.

“There's really nothing more to add that I didn't already say last night.” she said, sitting up as she became more alert.

“Except...after you collapsed you starting spasming and eventually dissolved into phlegmy, meaty, molten-hot tar.” Ben gagged as he sat up as well.

“No wonder you screamed.” he mumbled, sympathetic, reaching up to comb his fingers through her loose hair unconsciously.

It was the tiniest motion – just a little lift of her shoulders, her eyes slipping shut, a breath. But through the bond, Ben could feel how she leaned into his touch, how her chest bloomed with rosy-violet light, with love.

Maybe even with a sliver of passion.

He jerked his hand away as if he'd been burned, such was his surprise.

“Rey...?” he asked, looking for confirmation of what he'd just felt, slightly breathless.

He could hardly have predicted what she said next.

“If it's not too much trouble – like, if I don't toss and turn in my sleep, or snore, or something – would you mind sleeping in my bed, every night?” she said, in a rush. She was blushing redder than he'd ever seen.

It would have been an adorable sight to behold if his cheeks weren't flaring at the question, too.

“Would I mind?” Ben asked, too stunned to do more than parrot her back. Rey bit her lip and averted her eyes.

“I rather liked holding you.”

He enfolded her into his arms, grasping her and kissing her – not the timid, sweet kind from the night before, but a kiss with enough fervence and passion behind it to make it promise something. He even dared to try pulling away for the briefest moment, only to brush against her nose and switch sides, reconnecting with her parted, warm lips.

He gently pulled away, leaving Rey feeling rather tingly and warm, and gifting her another one of his brilliant, vampiric smiles.

“I liked holding you too.” Ben breathed, laughing at how child-like he sounded. Rey's giggle was like the ringing of brass bells at the Takodana market.

“Then it's settled then.” she said, leaning in and pecking him sweetly.

He could've happily stayed in bed with her, kissing her for hours, but his stomach was starting to growl.

With another longing, slightly sloppy kiss, he slipped off the bed and stood.

“Meet you downstairs for breakfast in say, five minutes?” She grabbed him by the navy blue pajama shirt collar and pulled him back for a particularly warm, languid caress of his lips that made him feel delightfully light-headed.

“Make it three.” she grinned.

* * * * *

Rey sprinted down the spiral staircase in her white, wrap-around top romper, hair done up in her three buns, eagerly pursuing the sound of a whistling kettle.

She reached the ground floor with a bounding leap and proceeded to saunter casually into the kitchen.

Varactyl eggs were already frying in pairs on the stove-top, and by the smell, the thick slices of happabore bacon on the counter were already fully cooked. Rey stole a piece off the plate and popped it in her mouth, spinning around to the other side of the island, grabbing a clean plate from the cabinet along with two slices off the loaf in the bread box.

She hopped up on the counter next to Ben – looking dashing and rather comfortable in a pale colored, long-sleeve, cotton shirt and a dark leather vest.

He levitated an empty mug over to her, resting it at her side as he flipped the semi-sunny-side-up eggs in the pan.

“How do you take your tea?” he grinned up at her, essence alight with exuberant flashes of white and gold at the sight of her smile.

“Mmmm?” Rey hummed, swallowing her mouthful of bread and bacon. “I'm not really that familiar with the stuff.”

“Not familiar with – !” He looked like he had half a mind to chastise her and then stopped. She could feel the cold coil of icy blue sadness that wrapped its way around him – yet another thing she'd missed out on in her life of poverty.

“Well,” he said, recovering with a small smile “it's never too late to learn. I'll start you off with some of this green jasmine, then.” he said, turning to a strange, glass coffee-pot-like contraption, filled with green leaves and boiled water, pushing down the central knob, lowering the press, and pouring out an amount into his own mug.

Rey shook her head at his playful insistence.

“I was lucky enough to get a bitter cup of coffee strong enough to chew at the Jakku market – when they had it.”

Ben visibly winced.

“Coffee introduces caffeine into your system too quickly,” he elaborated as he portioned out her mug of tea, “tea is much gentler – slower to wake, but a slower crash when it wears off, too.” Rey set aside her plate and picked up her mug cradling it.

“I was practically jumping up and down after I tried my first cup of coffee.” Ben could only shake his head in shame as removed the eggs from the pan with the metal spatula.

She swirled the tea in her mug thoughtfully.

“Why do they give all different names to teas anyhow? Isn't it all just tea?”

Ben audibly gasped, essence flaring yellow in shock, and Rey had to make a valiant attempt to not drop her mug in surprise and laughter.

Fortunately, the shadow of a grin on Ben's face told her he was laughing at himself too.

“They have such different names because of all the different _kinds_ of leaves. The differing species, flavors, stage of growth they're picked at – they all effect how the tea ends up tasting. And because the flavors of the leaves themselves can be very subtle, any kind of floral flavor or fruit can be mixed in to create a unique blend – theoretically.”

“Infinitely variable, then,” Rey smirked.

“Exactly,” Ben replied, jumping up on the counter next to her, thighs aligned and touching, once he'd deposited her eggs on her plate.

“I never would've guessed Sith – any Sith – would've had a fondness for tea. I assumed they'd limit themselves to black coffee.” Ben rolled his eyes massively as she snorted.

“Not everything we do is that predictable.” he belly-ached. Rey chortled.

“Oh really? What's your favorite kind of tea then, c'mon!”

Ben stayed stubbornly silent for several minutes – stewing in a swirling mauve, blue, and bright orange aura of hesitance and embarrassment – before Rey's persistent eye contact made him concede.

“A special variety of spiced black tea...” he muttered, indignant, prompting uproarious laughter from Rey that had Ben scheming to get her back for later – not that he didn't delight in the sound.

Her laughter quickly subsided and she grinned over her mug and inhaled the scent experimentally before taking a deep drought of the golden-green liquid.

“Well, I'll give you this – it tastes leagues better than coffee.” she said, prompting a low chuckle from her seat partner. She smacked her lips thoughtfully. “Is this just jasmine tea?” Ben shook his head, knocking back the tea himself.

“I made a blend with some rose petals and marigold I found growing in the greenhouse.” he said, nodding towards the attachment. His cheeks flushed pink. “I guess I was feeling a little bit – inspired, to make something sweet.”

Rey smiled, feeling flattered and downed the rest of her mug, savoring the blend's sweetness as it flowed down her throat.

“Well, I look forward to a further education in tea.” she teased gently, digging into her breakfast, voraciously, Ben's essence firecrackering with pink and peach, happy with her enjoyment of his cooking.

The rest of the meal passed in happy silence, ending with Rey offering to take care of the dishes. Ben almost argued with her.

“Really, Rey, it's fine. I'll deal with them after lunch.” She pointedly glared at him.

“You've cooked for me twice now – the least I can do is take care of the cleaning.” she said, submerging her arms in the warm, soapy water in the sink and scrubbing the dishes clean with the abrasive sponge she'd found under the sink.

“If you're feeling particularly virtuous after an occasion where I cook, _then_ you can do the dishes.” she muttered, leaving no room for argument.

The gentle, lingering kiss Ben pressed against cheek as he reached around her and placed his dish in the sink was as unexpected as it was welcome.

“A balanced deal, then. You're getting better at this, scavenger.” he said, aura sparking with his flirtation.

He waited patiently for the few minutes it took her to clean up after yesterday's dinner and this morning's breakfast, using the time to scheme about the days activities. Wiping her hands clean with a dish towel once all the plates were on the drying rack, Rey turned to him.

“How's about we take another crack at the generator?” she said, enthusiastically, the gears of her mechanical mind already turning. Ben cringed.

“I have to warn you, Rey, I have a bit of a history with setting difficult bits of machinery and technology on fire.” Rey rolled her eyes.

“We have to start testing your talents somewhere, remember? I'll teach you everything I know. In turn, you can help me to cook something for lunch.” Ben slipped off his seat at the island, looking no more reassured.

“I'm willing to give it a try.” he said, grimacing.

They summited the two sets of spiral staircases up to the top floor and wrenched open the stubborn, flaking, bronze-painted metal door to the dust-covered, rusty generator's room – keeping the door open to offer them what little light they could garner.

Rey had managed to find an ancient tool kit the other day, and between that and her scavenger's pocket knife – complete with pilex bit driver, multiple blades, and wire-cutters – she had just about everything she'd need. For the time being, she put Ben on flashlight duty.

“Alright, let's see what the damage is then...” Rey muttered, laying down in the dust under the hulking structure, undeterred, and removing the bottom panel from the stomach of the generator. “Gonna need some light up in here.” Ben sighed as he shifted onto his stomach and crawled under the brass beast.

“You could've told me to put back on my shirt from Exegol if you knew you were planning on playing in the dirt.”

“Oh hush, you can wash it later.” Ben gingerly flipped onto his back and directed the torch's light straight up into the hole.

“What exactly are we looking for?” he murmured, watching her work, brow furrowed.

“Any tell-tale signs of damage – broken power lines, loose connections, components that have grinded to stop, that sort of thing. We know the generator didn't stop working from lack of fuel; all the gauges on the outside were in the green. Harris wrench,” she instructed.

Ben called the tool to her with the Force and handed over the brass wrench.

“Thank you,” she said, straining as she loosen a few ancient bolts and removed the engine's exoskeleton. She squinted into the silver sheen of the pistons. “Strange. It seems perfectly fine.”

Rey replaced the cover after double checking the internal wiring, surge protectors, power lines to the battery, and replacing the rotted belt and several rusted gears.

“Maybe it was a power failure in the cooling system?” Rey mused, twisting her neck to get at a small chimney stack-like structure near the top. “Damn...no, not that...”

“Did you check the battery?” Ben offered, earning him one icy glare.

“Of course I checked the battery, Ben – yesterday, after I checked the fuel gauges.” she said, shifted back out from under the generator, kicking up the dust and making Ben sneeze.

Rey scrambled all over the stubborn warhorse, finding a tear in the gas line and fixing it with bonding tape. She checked the voltage throughout with a meter, looking for any faulty connections or reversed polarity.

Finally, after finding no fault with the power, she decided to look at the alternator, Ben crouching next to her.

Even a cursory glance under the flashlight's glare told him what was wrong with the unit, his years of thoroughly examining the _Falcon_ 's hyper-drive coming back to him.

“Well that's no good, the voltage regulator's been knocked out of place...” he muttered. Rey squinted at the component.

“You're right,” she grinned, as she reached in to remove the bent screws with her pilex bit driver, “Guess you're not so shabby with machines after all, Solo.”

Ben rolled his eyes, more of a lazy glance at the ceiling really, and kept the light steady as she reached into the alternator's belly and tried to adjust the component.

She grunted and twisted, but to no avail.

“Bloody thing's stuck.” she groaned, tugging with all her might. Ben reached in with his free hand and tried to assist in her pulling. The metal screamed in protest, but they were eventually able to yank out the warped voltage regulator.

Unfortunately, the sharp split rings chose the same moment to pop out of their sockets like concealed knives as they pulled out the regulator.

Rey cried out in pain, dropping the now blood-stained component.

“ _Kriff!_ Dammit, dammit, dammit – ow...” she gasped, clutching her injured right hand. Ben dropped the flashlight on the floor, hands darting out to clutch hers.

“Show me.” he murmured gently, lowering her palms to the thin beam of light on the floor.

Ben grimaced, his heart bleeding in sympathy.

Two jagged, diagonal cuts had traced paths from the middle of her palm, and across her middle and pointers fingers, wrapping around her flesh. They looked more like lacerations then normal cuts, and while they weren't deep, the rusty, dirty metal inflicting the damage was far more dangerous than a precise, clean blade.

Ben's mind started moving a million miles a minute.

“C'mon,” he said, grabbing her by the elbow and pulling her to her feet. He hurried her down the hall to the nearest bathroom – the one attached to his room – and helped her to scrub the cuts clean.

“This'll sting, but I don't dare try to heal your hand while any metallic flecks or rust residue is still in the wound.” Rey nodded numbly, and he moved to run the soapy water over her wound.

She did little more than hiss, but Ben felt the jolt of pain in his hand like the injury was his own and nearly cried out.

He pressed a clean cloth firmly to her palm to slow the bleeding and sat down across from her on the turquoise-tiled floor, cross-legged. Despite his frantic pulse, he closed his eyes and attempted to slow his breathing and calm down, directing his mind inward to their bond.

He repeated one thought clearly over and over again in his mind like a mantra.

_I've got you._

It was a relief when her mind responded in kind.

_I know._

It took a few minutes, but it was easy enough to enter that light realm where they were beings of pure energy – where anything was possible and it was just the dance and flutter of their dyad.

Ben sent healing thoughts her way, little white-gold pulses of energy and calm that traveled from his hands into hers. The blood retreated back into her wound, the stinging and pain faded like a distant memory, and the tears in her skin grew back into a smooth, perfect whole.

The fix was so perfect that when the two opened their eyes and returned to the physical world, Rey gasped at the sight of her hand when she lifted the blood-stained cloth.

“Not even a scar.” she said, examining her hand in wonder.

“Well, it was easy after bringing you back from the brink of death.” Ben said, a smile ghosting over his features. Indeed, it had taken very little effort on his part, and unlike the first time, he barely even felt tired.

In fact, he felt more invigorated than when he had started the healing process.

Rey glared at him, but in an unamused way, not an angry one.

“You really ought to stop doing this. You're going to run out of life-force to give me, eventually, and then where will I be?”

“Alive and well?”

She had half a mind to hit him again, but instead pulled herself to her feet with a groan and marched back through Ben's blue and aqua bedroom, making a b-line for the generator room.

Ben had to jog to catch up.

“What? Not even a word of thanks?”

Rey said nothing, but tugged him to stop by his shirt collar and planted a sweet little kiss on his parted lips.

After finding a replacement part for the voltage regulator among the crates of parts and shoving it into its slot, Rey declared that there was nothing wrong with generator, and no logical reason why the piece of garbage shouldn't be working.

She kicked at the hollow casing and nearly bruised her toes.

Utterly frustrated and sweltering in the dark room, Ben suggested that they break for lunch, getting just the idea of what to teach Rey.

“I'm not so sure I'm as keen about learning at the feet of the master at the moment, Ben.” Rey sighed, resting her sweaty forehead on the counter of the island, wiping off the grime that had gotten onto her nose on her sleeve.

“Not even to learn the perfect recipe for a cool, refreshing, classic Coruscantian street beverage?”

Rey's lips bunched to one side of her mouth.

“Well, since you put it like that...”

Ben took out the food processor and proceeded to list out the amounts of blue and red berries, potassium and star fruit, ice, blue milk, cream, honey and lemon zest for Rey to measure out and add as he cooked bite-sized pieces of poultry in the oven, to be mixed in with a zesty summer salad.

The mixers whirring and grinding blades, with some careful prodding with a wooden spoon, pulped all the ingredients down into smooth, thick drink that Rey nearly downed in one go, despite the very tall, cold glass she poured out for herself.

Between that and the salad, Rey was surprised at how quickly her stomach filled.

“So you grew up drinking this, then?” Rey smiled, sitting across the corner of the table from Ben, still feeling quite dirty and sticky, but decisively less hot and miserable.

Ben returned her grin.

“Every Life Day and birthday I would beg my parents to go out and buy me a cup of Mauve Milk from the street vendors. It was my single favorite drink – to the point that my parents decided to be economical and taught me how to make it myself.”

“You continue to surprise me, Ben.” she said, finishing the last of the so-called "smoothie." Ben looked up from his salad only to snort out a laugh.

“What?!” she exclaimed. “What's so funny?”

“You've got – you've got, just the tiniest bit -” he said, between snickers. Rey sighed.

“Where on my mouth have I got it?” He guffawed.

“Kind of everywhere.” Rey groaned, making a move to wipe her face with a napkin when-

“Hold on, I'll get it.”

And he leaned over the corner of the table, enveloping her lips with his in a messy, slick kiss, his tongue darting out from between his lips to lick her mouth clean.

Rey shrieked in indignation and leapt from her seat.

“ _BEN!_ ” she roared, the ensuing, high-speed chase around the ground floor ending with her catching him and just about kissing him breathless.

After taking cleansing showers to rid them of the dirt from the engine room, the two whiled away the rest of the day in the garden, savoring the scenery and meditating – just reveling in one-another's company.

As far as Ben Solo was concerned, it was the first perfect day in his life.

* * * * *

There was such a thing in the galaxy as too much quiet.

Quiet was not peace, but the two were very closely related. Peace was tenuous, as was quiet, because neither was an absolute – neither could serve as a solid foundation on which to build a future.

There was too much quiet in the galaxy according to Ap'lek, and given his position as silent executioner of the cultist order he called his brotherhood, this was particularly concerning.

He knew his orders well, of course – find the deserter and kill him. They were simple enough, easy to follow.

The trouble was, despite weeks of meditation, they could not find the deserter's signature in the Force.

He was hiding from them, concealing himself. Or else, someone was helping to conceal him.

Or, the bastard was dead and they were all wasting their time.

And Ap'lek for one, had had enough.

He hefted his Mandalorian executioner's ax over his shoulder and marched down the hallways of the silent, darkened compound – each footstep like the explosion of a bomb as it reverberated off the onyx slabs.

He stormed into Vicrul's quarters and slammed down his ax with enough force to crack a human skull – though it only implanted itself two feet into the volcanic rock.

His vocal chords having been shot and destroyed long ago – preventing any sound-based form of speech – he angrily began signing at Vicrul, who'd turned to face him the moment he'd entered.

Signing was normally a slow and inefficient method of communication, but having grown up together, the brotherhood understood Ap'lek's gestures perfectly.

The brotherhood's second in command sighed, the electronic static of his face mask making the sound come out more as a growl.

“Yes Ap'lek, I'm aware the meditation is going nowhere.” he said, his voice a course baritone. Ap'lek only signed more furiously, his hands becoming angry, dark flurries of motion, like a starved flock of mynocks pursuing the smell of a fresh kill.

Vicrul drew his scythe from his back in one smooth motion, the blade already vibrating in warning. “Do. not. dare. question my authority, Ap'lek. We are all just trying to follow orders.” Vicrul hissed, the phalanx plates of his face-mask flashing silver.

Ap'lek let out a frustrated growl, akin to the clunky motor of a sand speeder – just about the only vocalized sound he could still make with a fried voice-box.

“The deserter cannot hide forever, brother, we will find him. And when we do, we will make him pay for what he has turned us into...” Vicrul murmured, his gloved fists tightened on the handle of his precious scythe.

The brothers had not been allowed to see each others faces in years, and though they could not recall the contours of one another's profiles or the shade of their eyes, Ap'lek knew well, that, as a result of the deserter's actions, Vicrul's hands were now made of metal and wires – the nerve damage to his arms had been too severe to save those limbs by the time their new Master had found them.

Ap'lek made one final point, moving two fingers across his throat rapidly and them pointing them away from his body.

Vicrul was only too sympathetic to his brother's concerns and sighed, lowering his scythe.

“He must be alive – the Master has sensed him in the Force, where he alludes us. Do not let the fires of revenge sputter out.”

The out of the dark came a soft, low, almost wispy voice, like it was the consistency of mist

“Patience, my Knights...” The sound came from a corner of Vicrul's chambers.

Ap'lek's head whipped in the direction of the voice, and he and Vicrul instantly dropped to their knees in a reverent bow.

Seated on the bed, blending in perfectly with the shadows of the room, was their Master. Neither had been able to detect his presence. Had he simply been there the whole time, and they had just been too blind to notice?

Ap'lek could only pray, his knees shaking, that he would be granted mercy for his angry outburst at his fruitless search and vague orders.

“The deserter will show himself in time – whether or not he wants to be found.” The mist uttered a disturbingly crisp, hollow laugh.

“After all, the experience of intense emotion is a consequence of being alive.”

And their Master shed a smile dark enough to suck all light from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never did I think that Reylo fan-fiction of all things would lead to me doing any amount of research on engines.
> 
> Also, the parts of this story I've unexpectedly loved writing the most are the sections about our antagonists. :)
> 
> All comments and critiques are greatly appreciated!


	10. IX.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talk of Ben's childhood leads to a lesson in the Force and a race through the woods surrounding the palace.

IX.

Rey – just Rey – was not particularly good at small talk – she'd found it a waste of energy growing up on Jakku, and thus, it was an underdeveloped skill.

As such, it was several days later over breakfast that the simple question dawned on Rey.

“What did you like to do for fun?”

Ben spit his vanilla oolong tea back into his mug with a full-bellied laugh.

“You're kidding right?”

“Seriously! What did you do for fun? As a youngling at least, you know, when you were 'getting into trouble' with Chewie?”

Ben placed his mug on the counter and tried to think back, perplexed.

“Normal things that every adolescent boy did?! We'd go on adventures in the _Falcon_ to uncharted marsh planets, brag incessantly and create all sorts of impossible stories to amaze my friends, tinker together with every piece of scrap we could get our hands on!”

“Didn't you have a hobby?” Rey grinned at his enthusiasm.

“I read a lot of books,” he said, bewildered, but Rey could only glare at this lackluster response.

“No, seriously, I was capable of curling up for hours in my reading nook back home, perfectly content with an adventure story or scientific journal or history book.”

This prompted more of a smile from her.

“Ben Solo, the bookworm,” Rey simpered, reveling at the mental image.

Ben rolled his eyes, ribbon of yellow joy dissolving into something blackened and sickly.

“It was a nice distraction from the deafening silence or the loud yelling.” Ben said, his tone suddenly slipping into something unpleasant.

Rey wisely changed the subject.

“What sorts of things did you and Chewie build?”

This question seemed to stall Ben as a memory surfaced. He chuckled.

“We built a pod-racer once – Chewie, Dad and I.” Rey gasped, exuberant.

“You were a racer?!” Now he was full-on grinning.

“Even managed to bag first one year at the annual Coruscant Young Inventor's Pod-Race.” His brow furrowed in thought.

“I think that was the one time Dad actually managed to vocalize that he was proud of me.”

Rey dissolved into giggles, making Ben bewildered.

“What?!”

“I'm just imagining – tiny Ben Solo – blinded by his giant mop of black hair going crazy in the wind – an absolute _speed demon_ on the streets of Coruscant.”

She could barely get the words out, she was so out of breath. Ben moodily picked up his mug of tea again and hid behind it.

“Last time I ever tell you about one of my hobbies...”

Rey softened, but the teasing twinkle refused to leave her eyes.

“Ben, I'm sorry.” He slammed his empty mug back on the counter, defensively.

“I could do it again, you know. Even at age ten I was a master of the race track – using different environments to my advantage, making snap decisions, trusting my instincts – it was all in me, even then. It didn't even matter that my pod-racer was the most beaten up, stuck together piece of garbage, it's all in the handling.”

An idea sparked in his mind like lightning.

“Actually, that's not a bad idea.” he murmured, grinning wolfishly. He started upstairs.

“Get changed into something comfortable and meet me out back in ten minutes.”

“What? Why?” Rey exclaimed, jumping off her chair.

“We start your training today.” he said with a smile before disappearing upstairs.

Changing into a comfortable burnt sienna, short-sleeved romper in her room, Rey donned her boots and traipsed out into the backyard along the marble path.

Ben was already waiting for her at the lakeside, dressed in light, breathable, black clothing.

“Today's exercise is all about opening your mind to what you don't know.” he began, circling her as he instructed.

“Very specific, Ben.” His warm chuckle, just a bit too close to her ear, made her shiver despite the warmth of the summer's day.

“Close your eyes.” She glared at him skeptically before obeying.

He stopped his circuitous route behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders, easing them into a relaxed position, their weight bearing a comforting presence.

“Breathe, Rey. Just breathe, and relax...slip into a meditative state.”

A difficult thing for her to accomplish with him whispering in her ear like that, his breath warm against her cheek, but Rey managed it.

“Now, reach out with your feelings.” he said, his voice coming to her as if from a long way away, nudging her shoulders in a slow quarter turn away from the lake and towards the forest surrounding the palace.

“Look into the woods. Feel the life within it.”

Rey's mind seemed to focus like telescope, following the current of life and peeking between the trees, seeing what was. Her subconscious mind picked up on all the minutia her eyes would have missed, blowing it up in size and immaculate detail.

“– observe every rock and tree...fern and insect...salamander and bird. Feel the thrum of life. See how it ebbs and flows, like the tide.”

She could see the creep of the moss as it grew, the crackle of bark as it loosened in the heat, a stick insect moving in slow motion up a trunk, an orange sleen lizard disappearing under a wet stone, a gray and red-crested bird, wings flapping doubly slow, in mid-flight.

“I see it,” she murmured, voice just barely above a breath.

She didn't quite feel like she had a body anymore, she was one with the earth.

“Now, look carefully, observe how you can use this knowledge of life strategically. Find the low points in the crests of the waves. Find the path of least resistance in the Force, all the way through the woods, around the lake, and right back here to where you stand, Rey.”

Her mind expanded, almost painfully, as it zoomed through the woods, dipping and swooping like a bogwing flying incredibly low and fast.

One moment she was skittering through the grass like a sandmouse, the next she was shooting up the trees, careening off the trunks, leaping amongst the branches.

Her pulse was accelerating, though she wasn't moving at all. She followed the path she saw rapidly all around the lake until her mind reconnected with her body.

She snapped out of meditation, gasping for breath and feeling dizzy. Ben was there to hold her up by her forearms.

“Take a minute, catch your breath – I'm right here, perfectly normal for a first time.” he reassured.

“But I don't understand, I've used the Force to see ahead with my mind before – why was this so much worse?” she gasped, leaning on him.

“It's all to do with intention; before the Force merely gave you snatches of information, correct? Flashes of life and death?” She nodded.

“Now, instead of just dipping into the stream of energy, you asked it a question – you directed it as much as you were directed by it.” he said, grinning proudly, and Rey couldn't help but return the look, flushed.

She was breathing normally again in short order and stood up.

“You remember the path you saw through the woods?”

“Yes – where exactly are you going with this, though, Ben?”

He positioned himself at her side, crouching down into a running stance.

“Just a bit of friendly competition,” he said, his essence flashing its predictable violet-pink flirtation “If you're game for a race against a champion pod-racer?”

Rey dropped into a starting-block stance as well, brown eyes flashing with fire.

“One victory doesn't make you a champion.”

“Well, it's about to be two.”

“Oh ho! We'll just see about that!!”

They turned their identical grins away from each and looked to the woods.

“Ready,”

“Set,”

“GO!”

Rey sprinted with all her might, her essence alive with energy of the forest and a thirst for victory as she zig-zagged across the uneven path, keeping her footing perfectly on key rocks she'd seen ahead.

She paid no mind to what Ben was doing at her right, but she wasn't deaf to the sound of cracking twigs and his pounding footfalls; she was still distantly aware of the hum of kinetic energy across their bond – his physical strength made ethereal.

She used her momentum to vault over a fallen tree as she pumped her legs, using the natural furrows in the ground to keep her footing and avoid roots and stones. She was lighter than air, and faster and more powerful than she'd ever felt.

She was rounding the first turn in the lake, spooking a family of burrowers back into the thicket of the sun-dappled trees as she tore through the underbrush.

Now came the tricky part. Using all her strength, and no small assistance from the Force, Rey jumped, propelling herself through the air and up towards the trunk of a particularly sturdy tree.

She just managed to twist herself in the air and kick off of the trunk – launching herself forward to a sturdy stretch of branches all in a line and at nearly the same height, perfect for swinging herself forward at high speeds.

Rey eventually ran out of branches and had to throw her body up in the air like gymnast, and soon she was leaping from tree top to tree top.

The one thing she hadn't accounted for was Ben having the same idea – he came flying in from her peripheral vision, making her yelp in surprise. Their paths crossed as he landed and they nearly collided.

Losing all momentum would have surely caused them to go crashing back to the forest floor. Fortunately Rey had the sense to use the Force to leap over Ben's head and keep her stride.

They were now racing side by side around the back of the lake, trying to outstrip each other on speed alone, and Ben was starting to pull ahead.

Rey knew she couldn't push her body much harder, so she had to follow her route back down to the forest floor where she could have the advantage in speed again.

She bounded off the tree trunks and swung from a low branch back onto the mossy ground, her mind moving at a million miles a minute to catch the sturdy, grassy patches that would keep her feet from slipping.

She rounded the final turn when she heard Ben crash back down to the forest floor on her right, not even breaking stride.

They were elbow to elbow, neck and neck, when they reached the finish line and fell over themselves.

“A tie! How anti-climatic.” huffed Ben, sprawled out on the mossy ground.

“I told you!” Rey gasped, laughing “No way you were going to beat me!” He chuckled airily.

“You and I are still too evenly matched for our own good, huh, scavenger?”

The affection in his essence glowed rose.

Rey turned onto her side, lifting up her torso on her forearms.

“Why do you insist on calling me that still – I'm hardly just the girl from Jakku anymore.” she said, catching her breath.

“Guess I'm just not very creative,” said Ben, sitting up with sigh. “Plus, I've never needed to come up with saccharine nicknames for a partner.”

Rey cocked her head, her eyebrows shooting up.

“I'm your first girlfriend?”

Ben smiled, flushing, running a hand through his mop of inky hair.

“Unless you count declarations of love made at age seven, then yes.”

Rey gasped in elation.

“Okay, you'll have to tell me that story sometime!” He laughed, but his return question caught her off-guard.

“And you? What lucky number am I?” Rey blinked and felt her cheeks warm uncomfortably, as she already felt feverish from running.

“Also my first boyfriend.” she said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear as a cool breeze blew through the clearing.

“Stars, am I really?” Ben said, sounding truly surprised.

Rey threw up her hands in annoyance.

“Force, Ben, you've seen into my mind! You know all about my childhood! I was digging through scrap on Jakku, just trying to survive the day-to-day! Do you think I had time for a relationship?!”

“Okay, okay, point taken!” he said, sitting up and holding out placating hands.

Rey tried to resist staring at the way his sweaty shirt clung to his chest, revealing the sharp counters of his muscles underneath, as her mind turned to the task at hand.

Which was to say, she wasn't very successful at not staring.

“Well, alright then,” she said, placing her chin in her palm and propping up her head “we'll go back and forth – you think up a nickname, I'll think up a nickname, and we'll settle with whatever feels right.”

Ben smirked.

“This sounds like an open-invitation to embarrass each other.” Rey's grin was positively devilish.

“Might be, might not be.” she said coquettishly. Ben chewed on his lower lip as his thoughts began to swirl.

Several long, quiet minutes passed before Rey spoke up again.

“Ben-”

“I'm telling you, I'm awful at this! I can't think of anything I'd actually use!”

“Fine then, I'll start!” Rey said, glancing at the ground shyly before she fired off the one she'd had ready to go.

“My knight,” she said, batting her eyelashes for emphasis.

Ben snorted at her behavior, but he couldn't conceal the teal and pink swirl of charm and infatuation in his aura – not from her.

Ben's brow furrowed and he tried to give a valiant, genuine effort.

“My kyber,” he offered. Rey's cheeks became dusted with pink.

“That's fairly good for a first one. Hmmmmmmm...” she mused, nose twitching adorably in thought.

It took a minute before Rey's eyes lit up with a gasp.

“Scoundrel!”

“Oh stars, no,” Ben groaned, making her break out in golden peals of laughter “my mother used to call Dad that whenever...they were fighting less...” he said vaguely, looking a bit green in the face all of a sudden.

Rey didn't need a Force bond with him to understand the insinuation.

“Not that one then, your turn.” she said, cheeks now a bright red.

Ben mused, reflecting for the first time on all the little characteristics that made up his view on Rey – her bravery, her determination, her fierceness, her kindness, in short the little bits of light that she brought to his life.

His answer, when he gave it, was rather quiet and reserved.

“Starlight,” he murmured, Rey's essence catching every little bit of love echoing out from his shy essence like a sail catches wind.

She ducked her head, avoiding his soulful, hazel eyes for the moment so she could think more clearly.

She had a really good one on the tip of her tongue, but couldn't find the words to put with it – the feeling of belonging wasn't inspiring any term of endearment just yet, so she settled on “Smuggler.”

“And what exactly have I stolen?” Ben mused, his heart already aflame.

“As if you have to ask.” Rey answered, beautiful brown eyes stealing his breath again.

Ben tossed his head from side-to-side, trying to settle on one word that described the warmth of Rey's light, the positive, holistic influence she'd had on him.

“Something to do with the sun,” he muttered aloud, hoping it would help his slow mind accelerate to a solution

“Solar flare or sun-spot or -” And then his eyes positively came alive

“ _Sun-rey!!_ ”

“NO!!”

Ben collapsed in laughter, uproarious and unapologetic.

“ABSOLUTELY NOT!!” Rey yelled, though she had the biggest smile on her face. “I _forbid_ it!! That's dreadful!!”

“ _That's the one, that is absolutely the one!!_ ” he yelled, trying to avoid being smacked by her. After a few minutes of struggling with him in the grass, she gave up and rolled back off of him, feeling rather warm and flushed.

“The other two were also fairly good, mind you.” said Rey, relenting, seeing she wasn't going to win this one – not in this lifetime or any other.

She got to thinking on her third and final pet-name for the scoundrel – taking the longest stretch of time yet.

She needed a nickname that encompassed it all – his protective nature, his kindness, his warmth, the comfort he brought her by being with her. He was like a shield, a guardian, a – ugh it was useless.

She couldn't think of anything.

How could she think of one word to describe how she felt a home in him?

She thought back to her days on Jakku, her vital needs. Water and shelter. Food and layers. And on starry nights when the desert's normally boiling temperatures dropped below freezing, what had kept her alive had been the small fire she had made in the stomach of her AT-AT out of feather-light kindling and driftwood.

That's what he was to her, a warm fire, blocking out the cold isolation of her past life.

She grinned. There it was.

“My hearth.” she said, declarative. Ben's expression turning puzzled.

“You know,” she said, smiling shyly “because of how warm and...comforting...and protective you are...revitalizing, really...”

“Well, when you put it like that, starlight,” he said grinning softly.

Rey – just Rey – was only too happy to mold her mouth warmly against his when he stretched up to meet her.

* * * * *

The new Master of the Knights of Ren was no simple fool. He knew better than to hope that Ben Solo was alive – he _knew_ it. Instinctively, he felt it in his bones that it must be so.

The only problem was, though he detected Ben Solo's signature in the living Force, he couldn't place it. There was no way he could trace to a planet an energy he was so unfamiliar with – after all, he had intimately, almost flawlessly known the energy signature of the creature known as Kylo Ren.

That angry, volatile beast he could've found on any icy moon in the galaxy in a heartbeat.

But Ben Solo – calm, at peace, complete – he was impossible to trace. He blended in with the masses now that he was just another benevolent Force sensitive-person _._

The only problem was, his legendary skills with the Force kept him well-hidden from prying eyes.

And after weeks of meditation, even the Master of the Knights was growing tired of grasping at straws that always floated tenuously out of his reach.

But then, one late night, the dark Master's patience was rewarded.

Ben Solo's Force-signature enveloped another – the two almost becoming one in their eager communion. It was almost sickening to the Master, to see two separate energies becoming so conflated.

But this energy signature was familiar to the Master as well – blinding as a set of twin suns, more of a beacon than the nearest, brightest star in a system.

Ben Solo's counterpart in the Light – a girl by the name of Rey.

The Master bared his fangs in victory, the dark knife-bones slicing the light in the room to ribbons, and he rose from his seat on the silken pillows.

He called together his Knights with a mental command, and shared with them the wondrous news.

They couldn't hope to track the deserter – but he was alive.

And he was with an emotionally radiant child who was positively dreadful at concealing herself in the Force.

Find the girl, and they would find their prey.


	11. X.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben attempt to fix the generator and end up discovering some of Theed Palace's secrets.

X.

Ben Solo had never learned how to be flirtatious, had never had even a hint of practice. But he was his father's son.

As such, he was talented at making things up as he went along and looking amazing while doing it.

“How about we try the almond oolong this morning?” mused Rey, running her fingers idly over the tea leaves growing in their neat little cube containers in the stifling greenhouse.

“You know the rules. You choose the leaves, you make the blend.” said the mischievous voice behind her – her constant companion, her shadow, her Knight.

Her thoughts about him had only grown more affectionate and sugar-coated in the days since they'd liberally started using nicknames with each other.

It was getting harder to focus during meditation because Rey's resolve to keep her hands off of him was waning.

They kept kissing each other breathless each morning and cuddling close at night. It was almost akin to marital bliss – or at least, Rey's mental picture of what marital bliss could be.

The term Ben had used to describe their hormone-riddled state had been the “honeymoon phase.” She'd all but leapt into his lap in her eagerness to kiss him after that – and he'd had to explain, red-faced, that it was just a common expression.

Rey redirected her attention to the problem at hand.

Having never tasted almond oolong, what could she combine with it in the hope it would taste good?

“It's a subtler flavor, right? Warm like black tea but with the gentleness of white?”

His playful kiss missed her cheek and landed closer to her jawline, making her breath catch as he warmed her skin with his lips.

“You're a fast learner.” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. She tapped a finger against her chin, speculative.

“Let's see – vanilla would go nicely,” she said, plucking a few leaves off that bunch and placing them in her cupped hand

“And...cream...” she said, twirling her fingers in a searching fashion over the leaf-farm until she found her prize, adding them to the oolong and vanilla in her palm.

“Aaaaaannnd...hmmm – it's needs a stronger note or two to round it out.” She looked to Ben, but he revealed nothing in his patient smile. She glanced around the greenhouse for inspiration, and her eyes snagged on the round, orange, citrus fruits growing on a tree in the corner.

She approached it and plucked one of the riper ones.

“Sunset fruit peel, and cinnamon!” she declared, ambitiously. Ben's eyebrows shot up in surprise and uncertainty.

“Okay then – let's try it.”

He shredded the zest off the fruit while she determined the blend's ratios, striking what she hoped would be a good balance.

The minutes while the water boiled and tea brewed were tense and made Rey uneasy with anticipation.

As soon as the tea touched her tongue, she grinned in triumph. Ben, a bit more skeptical and slow on the uptake, took a long, slow sip.

His eyelids fluttered shut in ecstasy as he swallowed.

“Stars, that's good.” Rey let out a triumphant bark of laughter.

“I had a good feeling about it.”

Ben almost looked annoyed.

“How is your first blend this _good_?” he said, downing the rest of the delicious tea, too eager to savor it.

Rey shrugged, the tea and flattery warming her all over.

“Beginner's luck.” she murmured into her mug, sipping the last of her creation. She set down the empty porcelain on the counter

“And, I had a great teacher.” she said, prodding Ben's shoulder coquettishly.

He had half a mind to seize her in arms and slip his tongue deliciously into her mouth – but it was much too early in the morning for that.

Plus, he was trying to reign himself in and slow down the heady flirtations in their relationship, because Rey had absolutely no restraint when it came to those things.

He had always been the one to pull away in their kissing, afraid they'd spend hours just making out if he let her keep kneading his lips.

He deterred the topic of conversation as such.

“And what are you planning on doing this morning, sun-rey?” he asked as he set down his mug. Rey's shoulders visibly drooped.

“I think you already know the answer to that.” Ben clicked his tongue in a well-intentioned, chiding fashion.

“My kyber, when are you going to give up on that piece of junk?” But she was already stomping up the stairs in a huff.

“When I figure out why the _damn_ thing's not working!!”

Nothing to do but follow her up to the generator's closet, or as Ben had started calling it in his mind – the graveyard.

Rey had spent time every day for the last week examining the generator. She'd replaced every shaky part, she'd double-checked every bit of wiring, every connection a hundred times, and still the thing refused to be resurrected.

Rey had even started wearing darker-toned clothing so that the dirt and dust that inevitably gathered on it from her hours in the closet was less noticeable, less irksome.

Ben, at this point, having learned more about generators than he ever could have possibly wanted to know, just picked a random spot on the wall to lean against, as Rey lay under the generator, and he held up the flashlight for her with his mind.

“Little to the left,” she mused, and Ben obliged, redirecting the cone of light for what had to be the millionth time.

He was standing near a metal box along the wall, idly picking at the steel latch, playing with it like he had with his father's pair of lucky dice in his youth – he'd always had too much pent up energy for his own good.

Rey knew this well and managed to easily tune out the metal-picking sound.

On accident, in the midst of his mindless musing, he flicked the latch up and the metal cabinet creaked open with a screech. Rey picked up her head at the sound.

“Sorry,” he apologized quickly, moving to shut the cabinet door.

“It's quite alright, smuggler.” she said, her mouth twitching into a grin. But his fingers stalled as the vaguest hint of light fell inside the metal box.

The inside was littered with thick switches. It was the fuse-box – quite possibly for the whole palace.

Ben called the flashlight to his hand and opening the metal door back up.

“Hey!!” Rey exclaimed from her place on the floor, shuffling out from under the belly of the beast, banging her forehead in the dark.

Ben's eyes roved over the switches, barely reading the fading, yellow, taped on labels that explained what each did. He only needed to find one.

At the bottom, he spotted the black switch that was labeled ' _Main Power_ ' in Basic, with loopy, hand-written script.

He flicked it on and the incandescent bulbs in the ceiling were instantly aglow with yellow light, turning the room from dusty black to earthy brown.

The generator roared to life without a single clunk or grind, as healthy as a thorough-bred Tauntaun.

Ben hardly dared to meet Rey's eyes as his cheeks burned, guilty grin already frozen in place, but fortunately, she'd buried her head in her hands as she sat in a ball on the floor.

He crouched down beside her.

“Rey-”

She screamed into her hands, her frustration coming out loud and sharp. He cringed away. Rey ran her filthy hands down her face and looked up at him.

“Why didn't I check the fuse-box? Why didn't it even cross my mind _once_ , Ben?”

The answer came to his mind easily. He rested a tender hand on her dirt-smudged cheek. She was still his scavenger for sure, regardless of her protests otherwise.

“Because you're so brilliant, and thorough, and good with machines, that you were looking for all the complex and difficult things that could go wrong, and ignored the easy way out.”

She rolled her eyes at him, but smiled nonetheless as she rose to her feet and brushed the dust off her pants.

“Sure, Ben.”

They left the generator room, hopefully for good.

Rey was going to head straight for her shower to clean up when she stopped short, Ben almost walking into her.

The only locked doors in the palace were now wide open, dusty-sunlight dancing across the floor in front of them.

“Of course, they were locked electronically.” Rey murmured, approaching the open ivory colored doors hesitantly, Ben staying right in step with her.

The sight that greeted them within quite took their breath away.

It was a library, tall and vaulted and ancient Earthen Baroque in style, with huge crystalline windows that let in plentiful amounts of natural light – not unlike the rest of the palace, but that wasn't what amazed them.

It was the contents.

Sure, there were paper and parchment books on fine, carved wooden shelves on the periphery of the room – handsome, hand-bound, and carefully crafted relics that they were.

But the majority of the metallic shelving in the middle of the room was filled with rows and rows of blue data chips, and disks and data sticks, containing history that had remained dormant and gathering dust since the rise of the Empire.

Once glance at the dates and names on the holo-labels told Ben all he needed to know.

Dates well before the Battle of Yavin, names like Qui-Gon, Windu, Kenobi, and even Yoda.

“I don't believe it – it's everything. Everything from the Old Republic, from the deceased Jedi council! The entire era of lost Jedi history, and it's been stored right here in this room – hidden away from prying eyes, from any trace of the Empire that sought to destroy it!!” he said, voice ecstatic and reverent at once.

“You're kidding?!” Rey exclaimed, her voice also an energized whisper. He seized her by the shoulders.

“Rey, do you understand what this means?!” he asked, not waiting for her to answer “It's all here – everything about the Force that anyone's ever discovered! With this and your Jedi texts, think of what we could learn – what we could discover!!”

He released her and started sprinted up and down the rows like a kid set loose in a candy store – the book-worm in him showing its true colors again.

“There could even be information on dyads, Rey!! We could finally understand our bond on a biological level – trace our history back to why we exist!! We could gain an unparalleled understanding of the Force!! We could-” he stopped and leaned against a shelf, feeling suddenly light-headed.

Fortunately, Rey was grinning just as broadly as he was.

“We could use all this knowledge to teach the next generation of Jedi better than ever before!” she said, beaming.

The light inside Ben quickly went cold.

“Teach? The next-generation of Jedi?” he said, voice skipping like an early, demagnetized sound recording. Rey cupped his large hands in hers, delicate and warm.

“The two of us, together, teaching a balanced view of the Force – preaching neither light nor dark but instructing our pupils to trust their instincts and live kind lives. Beautiful, flawed, _human_ lives.” she said, breathlessly and shining like a solar fire.

But Ben's chest was filling with ice and he had to step away.

“Rey, I could never.” Her brows scrunched together in sadness.

“Why not?”

He stared at her like she'd lost her mind.

“Rey, changed or not, I cannot, _will not_ , be trusted with power. A whole generation of curious, malleable, young minds in my care?” he paled at the thought, shaking his head.

“I will never be a Jedi Master, Rey. Even if the Senate would let me go free, I won't do it.”

“Ben,” she reached after him but he was already turning away, marching towards the center of the room and the holo-projector, just waiting to be liberated of its dust and reveal the secrets of the past. “you just need to learn to trust yourself again.”

He was ignoring her, arms crossed. She huffed in annoyance at his stubbornness, but when she spoke, it was all gentle persuasion and comfort.

“I know there's still darkness in you.”

His soul pricked up, a silver sliver of fear in his veins

“I know you can't rid yourself of it entirely, but every day you refuse to listen to it. You're making your own choices again, good choices. You're finding your own way in the Light and...it's beautiful, Ben.”

She always somehow knew what to say to stoke the hopeful fires in his chest, but he wouldn't let them take.

“You have to believe you've changed, or else...I'm the only one who will.” she concluded.

A data file whispered to Ben from the shelves, asking to be played, the perfect nail in the coffin to make his point clear.

He clenched his fist and the dust exploded off the projector as one, falling to the floor in a glittering cloud. He held out his hand and the plastic rectangle flew from its slot on the shelf, like an arrow to his hand, and he slotted it into the cylindrical projector.

The file that played made the room echo with the sounds of war.

The holo showed a spaceship hallway filled with smoke, warning lights blaring, wiring and tubing exposed in the wake of felled ceiling panels and sliced walls.

Rebel soldiers were being slain left and right by a dark form in the smoke, and though the blue holo revealed nothing about the lightsaber's true color, it wasn't that hard to guess.

Out of the smoke emerged the tall form of Darth Vader, wearing his full Empire regalia, the warlord helmet precisely cut in an instantly recognizable silhouette that had struck fear in the hearts of generations of Rebels. He proceeded down the long hallway, cutting down anyone who stood in his way – caring not for the utter decimation of life.

Knowing his family history well, it wasn't hard for Ben to guess that this was likely his grandfather's assault of his mother's ship the _Tantive IV_ , on the fateful day the Death Star plans and the fate of the galaxy had been entrusted to a droid.

“No matter what I do now,” Ben said, voice low and thick with emotion “this is the legacy I've permanently entangled myself with.”

He turned abruptly and walked briskly from the library, leaving Rey to watch the footage of Ben's grandfather alone, held petrified by her horror, by the parallels she saw between this monstrous mechanical man and her twisted grandfather – and maybe even herself.

* * * * *

After the file ended and Rey pulled herself from her stupor, it took a full thirty minutes of searching before she found Ben.

The last place she thought he'd be was meditating out in the garden by the rock pools. He was dreadful at meditating when he was upset.

...Actually he wasn't terribly good at the practice when he was calm either, but that was besides the point.

He was floating a foot off the ground above a grassy patch among the flower bushes, intoxicated by the heady, sweet scent of the blooms.

He didn't feel happy, but he'd at least obtained an ounce of calm among a scent that made him think compulsively of Rey in his arms between the sheets, the morning sun glancing off the crown of her head.

Ben couldn't help but laugh sadly at himself.

How had he gotten to this point where she was everything to him – his first waking thought, his last lucid thought, his passion, his anger, his love, his sympathy, and his comfort?

He prayed to gods he didn't believe in that this piece of his adoration stayed when the honeymoon phase ended.

With thoughts of her, he was able to easily recenter himself and enter the graceful embrace of the Force – that realm of light and wonder and peace that would never turn him away, would always accept his broken self with open arms.

_So will she,_ answered the crackling voice of an old curmudgeon.

Ben sighed.

Would he ever be able meditate alone again, or would he perpetually be haunted by his new ghosts every time his mind calmed?

_What your uncle says is true_ , said a much kinder, melodious, maternal voice.

Ben opened the eyes of his soul and saw the blue-green glowing forms his mother and old Master sitting across from him, legs crossed like his were.

_Trust me, I know how lucky I am to have her_ , Ben said, guarded in his explanation, eager to change the topic of conversation.

_Do you, Ben?_ Leia mused, eyes crinkling with a familiar wisdom. _It's rare enough to find someone who loves you, but its much more precious to find someone who loves you as selflessly as she does_.

_I'd rather not talk about my relationship with you, if it's all the same, mother,_ Ben said running his 'hands' down his face, embarrassed.

_The galaxy has found peace again, there's, quite literally, nothing else to discuss,_ said his uncle, the slight lilt of amusement in his tone not lost on Ben.

He groaned.

_...Pray tell, what's your point?_ Ben eventually griped.

_You're unsteady right now, my son,_ Leia said, laying a hand on his, _but she is whole. You must trust her words for the time being, until you can trust yourself again._

Ben's brow furrowed in such a pained way that the sight threatened to break her heart.

_Can I ever listen to the voices in my own head again?_

_Yes. Of course you can, Ben._ said his uncle, voice breaking. _Listen to the voices that tell you to love her – they will never steer you wrong. They come from the purest parts of you._

_I thought the history of Jedi in love was littered with tragedy,_ said a female voice to Ben's right.

His head whipped in her direction, eyes alighting on the silver-blue form of his Rey.

Even separated from his body so, he knew she was meditating right at his side, floating off the ground like him.

It was the first time she'd used that word in conjunction with them.

_Love._

He forgot how to breathe.

His uncle turned his attention to Ben's dyad, smiling wryly.

_Indeed,_ he said, _but given the connection of your bond, and the strength of your mutual sacrifice, I'd dare to hope in a chance for you two._

_Maybe, just maybe, you can get it right,_ Leia offered.

Ben sighed, but there was a smile on his white-gold lips. _That's a little overly optimistic, don't you think, mother?_

_Someone has to give you two hope, given what rugged realists you've both become._

Him and Rey breathed out the same laugh.

Leia smiled at them with something akin to pride, a shimmer of joy. She squeezed Ben's hand.

_Forgive yourself your mistakes, Ben. You deserve an end to your suffering after everything you've been through. And trust Rey, she sees plainly what you've lost sight of in yourself._

Ben had no idea how to follow his mother's instructions, but nodded in understanding all the same.

_Okay,_ he murmured.

_And keep each other safe,_ Luke added in an urgent rush, _we're trying to hide you from less-than-friendly, prying eyes on the dark side of the Force, but it grows more difficult every day. I fear you two are still being targeted. Stay alert._

And with that, their focus broke, and Ben and Rey landed back on earth, back in their fleshy, physical bodies.

Somehow, their physical bodies had ended up holding hands.

“Well that was a rather important warning to save for the end, Uncle.” Ben groaned, his frustration plain.

“At least we know.” Rey murmured, meeting his troubled hazel eyes with her gentle brown.

He didn't pull away from the gentle stroke of her thumb on his cheek, though it was his gut reaction to.

Her kiss on his lips was like a fresh breath of life in his lungs.

“We'll make our own legacy – independent of our family names, Ben. You'll see.” she whispered by his cheekbone.

“Show me, Rey,” he said in a plaintive whisper, “show me the bright future I can't see myself.”

The second kiss, warm and wet with his tears, made light bloom, dazzling in his mind, a precious needle-full of hope to tide him over until his body remembered how to produce the magical tonic on its own.

* * * * *

They received a brief transmission from Poe that afternoon. Now that the generator was back on, the comms had been restored, and they could contact the Resistance base – even though Ben wasn't strictly speaking supposed to, given his exile, Rey could make all the communications she wanted to.

Poe's report was brief but jovial, nothing but good news. All was well and the First Order was on their last leg. It put Rey in a very happy state.

Then Ben, despite the hot, late, afternoon hour, had to insist they still get a bit of training in before having dinner, and soured her mood all over again.

She was confused by his instruction to put on something that she was okay with getting wet until she remembered he'd promised to teach her how to swim and warmed to the idea considerably.

She donned one of the particularly dirty, dark brown rompers that she would've needed to wash anyway.

When she got down to the lake-shore, it came both as a frustrating annoyance and flustering delight to see that he'd opted to only don a pair of loose, dark pants.

“Missed opportunity to wash that shirt you were so torn up about.” Rey said, upon arriving at his side and stretching down to kick off her boots.

She was trying to avoid staring at the broad, muscular, expanse of his chest at all costs – the sight was filling her with flares of desire she had no idea what to do with.

All they did was make her feel hot, uncomfortable, and very confused.

“I thought you liked seeing me shirtless on Ahch-To.” he murmured with a devilish grin on his face, causing her to lose her balance as she ditched her second boot. Her cheeks became all the redder as he caught her elbow to steady her.

And he just _had_ to keep pushing.

“And you could hardly take your eyes off me the other day after our race.” he said, cheeks tinging with pink. She smacked his hand away.

“As if you don't ogle me in my sleeping shift every morning.” she shot back, traipsing into the cooling waters of the lake without ceremony.

She barely heard him call after her, her sloshing in the water was so loud. Every step took her deeper, but still she charged forward as if she had any idea how to stay afloat.

When she was in up to her collarbone in the calming waters, she experimentally bounced and let herself float in the vague tide, swirling her arms and kicking her legs a bit before her feet touched the sandy bottom again.

She repeated the motion until he caught up to her.

“You're going to want to lie on your stomach, Rey,” he said, his voice still possessing the hint of a chuckle. The water only reached up to his navel.

“I'm not doing anything you say until you apologize.” she said, haughtily, not meeting his eyes, knowing that would break her resolve. His sigh came out more as an exasperated growl.

“Go on, I'll wait.”

The silence stretched, the water rippling around her.

“...Apologize for what, exactly?”

She smacked him on the too-muscular-for-his-own-good right pectoral, summoning a half-laugh, half-yelp from him.

“For using the fact that I'm attracted to you against me?! For making me feel embarrassed for -” she sputtered for a moment, but quickly recovered “appreciating you physically, as if that's not a completely normal thing to do!!” she said, aiming sturdy punches at his shoulders, making him flinch away.

“Alright, alright, sun-rey, I'm sorry!” he said, giggling uncontrollably. She planted her hands on his shoulders and used the partial weightlessness of the water to raise herself up to his eye-level.

“Forgive me,” he said, sobering at the discomfort he felt on her side of the bond “I didn't think a little joke like that would bother you.”

Rey ducked her head, that same red light flaring in her chest, an old friend now.

It had been there when she'd first kissed him, when he'd massaged her hand on the shuttle, when he'd first held her tight in bed. What was she to do with such warm, intoxicating, foreign feelings?

Just planting her hands on his impossibly broad shoulders like this, now, wavering so close to his bare chest, was stirring something inside her she'd never felt before.

She was going to open her mouth to explain it all, if she could without her embarrassment burning her to a crisp, when Ben gently placed his fingers to her lips, silencing her.

“You don't need to speak, Rey, I can feel all of it.” he whispered, and his presence curling around her was all the explanation she needed.

She wasn't sure if it was the water that made her shiver, or his bare arms looping around her, or both.

_It's all new to me, too._

She sighed against his neck, burrowing in his embrace.

_Please. Outside of a little shyness at the beginning, you've gotten much more comfortable with all of this than I ever was._

_I'm sorry, who was it exactly that started this whole flirting business?_

She groaned.

_Ugh, okay fine, maybe I started it, but that's just how I joke, how I show a bit of affection. That's all – easy...But this..._

She sucked in a huge breath before kissing him wetly, open-mouthed and hot in way that their kisses hadn't been yet.

It left them both feeling more than a little flustered. She was shaking in his arms.

_...This is a right bit more difficult._

He held her tight about the shoulders as he lowered her back into the water.

_Then we'll take it slow. As slow as you need,_ he said, rubbing her gently down her back.

_Glacial?_

Her brown eyes met him in a friendly, familiar, and impossibly vulnerable way all at once.

He grinned and his canines peeked out, just for a moment.

“Glacially slow.” he said.

Rey was breathing much easier when she spoke again.

“Alright then, my knight, teach me the ways.”

They moved a bit deeper into the water before Ben had Rey float on her back, spread-eagle, just as a trust exercise with herself to prove that she could.

He demonstrated how to swirl her legs and arms to tread water in place – less energy-efficient, but no less important of a skill.

Then, after showing how to turn her head to the side to breath and practicing the motion until it was familiar, Ben gently placed one hand on her belly to hold her up, and one on the small of her back to guide her – first through the scissoring, kicking motions, and then scooping arm movements of swimming.

She wrestled a little with keeping her legs close together, and fingers tight against each other, familiar problems from Ben's own swimming lessons as a child.

But after a bit of gentle correcting, within minutes, she was putting the two motions together and swimming on her own.

Ben figured it must have had something to do with her Nabooian blood – there was simply no other explanation for the relative ease with which she was now slicing through the water.

They stopped in roughly the middle of the lake, treading water, Rey whooping in victory, though she was still a little shaky staying afloat when she wasn't in motion.

“Is there anything you're not instantly amazing at?” Ben exclaimed, equal parts perturbed and proud.

“Only that which I haven't tried, Solo!” she said, a hand darting out to splash him, wetting a hank of his raven hair. His smiled curled mischievously.

“Oh, you don't want to start something you can't finish, scavenger!”

“Who said I wasn't set on finishing it?!” she exclaimed, the splash that followed far bigger then the first, completely drenching his hair with the aid of the Force.

Ben emerged from the wave, spluttering, and charged after her. Rey squealed and took a deep breath, ducking her head down and racing for shore.

She could hear the furious splashes behind her through the distant echoes of the water, and even knowing that she wasn't going to outstrip him, she still enjoyed the thrill of the chase and the practice, nevertheless.

Her heart was racing and ecstatic, and despite her lingering uncertainties, Rey couldn't have been happier.

The cool, clear water and gorgeous grove of dark green plants and flashes of silver fish below became a pleasant distraction even as her arms started to scream in protest.

By the time she reached the shore, there was dull ache throughout her whole body, and she was gasping for breath.

She whipped around, expecting to be immediately tackled to the ground by Ben.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Rey became worried for a moment, before she realized he was probably just waiting for the right time to emerge, trying to scare her.

“Come on out, Ben! You won't get me that easily!” she yelled, shivering slightly in her thin, wet, romper.

...But the minutes passed and there was only silence.

It was when she reached deeper into their bond and sensed in him a quiet far too akin sleep that her body became electric with panic.

She charged back into the lake and took the biggest breath she could muster before she dove straight down, paddling steadily past the shelf of seaweed, past the silver fish, and into the deep darkness below.

From the shore, she could've never guessed how deep this lake was.

It was becoming hard to see by the time the pressure on her head built to its peak and her feet touched the bottom, but her sensitivity in the Force made up for the light her eyes lacked.

She almost wished she couldn't sense the colossal leviathan in front of her. Its huge, bulbous head was adorned with golden eyes the size of TIE fighters, and it had no shortage of thick, slimy tentacles made of pure muscle, hundreds of suction cups the size of her head designed to skin prey upon contact.

Then there was the cruel, twisted beak peaking out from the mass, and a tail and dorsal fin at least twice her height, and four times as long.

And in one slimy tentacle, unconscious in its constricting grip, was Ben.

Rey thrust her hand out in front of her as she swam towards the creature, kicking fervently, sending shock waves of energy through the Force.

_LET HIM GO!!_

The beast let out some sort of reverberating spasm, somewhere between a roar and an earthquake at its mind being intruded so.

Fortunately, only a cursory glance within told Rey the beast was far from starving – it hadn't been hunting Ben for food, this was a territorial dispute.

She went forward boldly, lowering her arms, but not lessening her pleading at her lungs started to constrict with the need to breathe.

_Please, I beg of you, release him! We meant you no harm!! We'll never swim in your waters again, just please, let him go!!_

The leviathan let out another, strangled noise, bewildered at the diminutive stature of the creature in front of him and the contrasting truth of its immense power, far greater than its own.

It could have destroyed him with ease.

And yet, it was showing _him_ respect, begging for _his_ mercy?

His rage at the intrusion of such flies into his web morphed into perplexed curiosity, and he answered back.

_Why does a tiny creature such as this matter to you so?_

Rey had only one answer to give, as her chest began to shudder with the effort of staying under.

_Because I love him._ And she gladly shared with the beast all the flashes of happy memories that her oxygen-deprived brain could recall.

Even one so primordial as he could understand such fundamental emotions – the creature he held was the mate of this other one.

Best not test how such powerful emotions would warp into fatal anger if he ate the one he held for its insolence. He was no fool.

With a relenting growl, the leviathan uncoiled his tentacle, releasing Ben, covered in red welts from the suction cups, into her waiting arms.

Rey clutched him as tight as she could and thrust her palm to the sky.

The Force rocketed them to the surface of the water and Rey emerged with a coughing, retching gasp – just escaping blacking out.

It was much harder swimming to shore with Ben's barrel chest and limp limbs hanging from her shoulders, but somehow Rey managed it.

She dropped his dead-weight body on the beach and dropped to her knees.

She could only dimly feel him in her mind – the slipping and tearing of the ties between them come to life from her horrific nightmare.

Barely detecting a pulse in his neck, she frantically began pumping his chest, through sobs.

He couldn't die on her, not here, not now.

Not after everything they'd been through.

Could the universe actually be so cruel as to separate them by drowning him, just as they were starting to figure things out? Just as they were becoming closer than ever before?

She hadn't even told him she loved him.

She was surely nearly cracking his ribs all over again with her fervence, but still he wouldn't spit out the water and come to. His chest was growing colder under her palms.

“ _Don't you dare die on me, don't you dare, Ben!!_ ” she growled and screamed, throwing the full force of her weight down on his chest, elbows straight.

Suddenly, he gurgled. Rey gave another three pumps, hardly daring to breath.

His eyes snapped open and he whipped his head to the side and retched, all the pond water coming up in a rush, staining the rocks on the beach as he coughed and hacked, forcing life-giving air back into his lungs with a sound like a death-rattle.

Once he was breathing deep and steady again, he turned back to face her.

“Rey,” he said weakly, voice gravely.

She collapsed into his arms, shaking with sobs, her sun-kissed fingers bunching his raven hair in her fists.

She kissed every part of him her lips could reach as his body regained its human hum of warmth by degrees – his shoulders, his neck, his jaw, his lips, his cheeks, his eyelids, his temples, his forehead – just to prove he was still there.

Just to fiercely prove to herself he was still a physical being – that she'd saved him.

That somehow it was all miraculously okay.

He clutched her back, fingers digging into her sides, welcoming every graze of her lips like a spike of energy from the heart of the Force.

He returned her kisses with caresses of his own, loving and heated, if just to calm down the racing of her pulse alongside his own thundering heartbeat.

He'd forgotten what that felt like – almost dying.

How quickly he'd forgotten that cold merciless embrace of the dark.

He was desperate now to kiss away the lingering tendrils of cold, to fill himself with her warmth, the warmth of light and life and grace – to tell her with each every peck and smooch and sloppy meeting of mouths that he was here and he wasn't going anywhere.

And thank you.

In his mind, Ben Solo couldn't stop the insistent, repetitive cadence of _Thank you, thank you, thank you._

* * * * *

He had been in the middle of eating his evening meal when it had happened.

He dropped his fork in shock, his whole body seizing up as if he'd been electrocuted.

Even his less-than-aware Knights felt it, though far more distantly than he.

It was intoxicating like wine, and went down the throat like ice.

He had never felt such pure fear before in his life, and it would be an understatement to say he delighted in it.

It breathed life into him the way his sleeper tank never did, try as he might to float in the warmed, gelatinous substance each night and rest for a few hours.

His Knights cowered at the sight of his pitch-black fangs, as they'd been trained to.

He rose from his seat in one smooth motion and floated out of the room, quickly down the hall to the communication center.

He tossed back the long sleeves of his cloak and let his long, shadowy fingers log the sensations he was experiencing as data into the bizarre machine – half mechanic, half organic, the tubes at the back both fleshy like intestines and rigid like wires.

One of his old Master's rather brilliant ideas.

The display flashed to life as the energies he detected were translated into ones and zeroes.

The map zoomed in far further than he would've anticipated. He was elated.

“Vicrul,” he growled, his second in command standing in the doorway, terrified and subservient, always in his Master's shadow.

“Master?” he answered low, with a bow of his head.

“Ready the ship – chart the course for the Inner Rim. Closer proximity may yet help widen your brothers'...feeble search.”

If Vicrul was ashamed or angry at the castigation, he gave no indication.

“Which planet are we heading to, to begin the search, sir?”

“We'll start at Corellia and go from there.” he said, making for the doorway, but stalling once he'd reached Vicrul's side.

“It's just as I predicted,” Vicrul's Master purred. “The girl's emotions will lead us right to him. We only have to wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The meditation scene in this chapter was largely inspired by this cover of "Wrong Direction," which I found through a Reylo MV:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZuATS_JD20
> 
> Give it a listen if you like, it's a really gorgeous cover. :)


	12. XI.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben starts teaching Rey how to waltz. Rey's fears about the possibility of losing Ben bring something far darker to the surface.

XI.

It took Rey – just Rey – a long time to fall asleep that night, worse than any long night she'd had on Jakku, though not by much. Even when she became unconscious with sleep, she was restless. Her nightmares were raw and vivid, not unlike the angry, red welts the leviathan had left on Ben's arms and chest, promptly healed by Rey's gentle ministrations.

She woke any number of times – probably more than Ben was aware of because she stopped crying after the third and just clung to him more tightly.

Waking to a cloudy morning, gently and absentmindedly stroking her arm slung around him, Ben mused over how they could spend the day in manner both instructive and gentle to Rey – she likely wasn't going to be up to any hard training or sparring.

She'd likely be too paralyzed by the thought of accidentally hurting him, and he couldn't blame her for that fear in the slightest.

Needless to say, they wouldn't be going swimming again.

He figured it'd be best to continue their etiquette lessons, which so far had been relatively simple – Rey's manners and posture were reasonably good, though she took begrudgingly to the idea of having to attend every event with a male escort.

Ben reminded her that Finn, or else Poe, would most likely be her companion to such galas, at least at the beginning, and she warmed more to the idea.

Language lessons had also been sparing as she knew how to speak respectfully to superiors – in multiple languages, born out of the necessity of trading on Jakku. After her brief tutelage under both his uncle and his mother (mostly his mother, if Rey was being honest she hadn't minced words with the senior Skywalker) she was good at choosing her words wisely and diplomatically.

But what to do that also had the potential to bring them closer together after yesterday's scare?

Ben grinned as Rey began to murmur against his shoulder, rousing from sleep.

It was about time they put the ballroom to good use.

* * * * *

After a breakfast of oatmeal and green chai tea (Rey's second blend, with notes of Eve's Fruit and cream), he dressed in a slightly more serious dark ensemble, the shirt a bit dressier than usual, met by his equal and opposite in a cool gray top with flowy sleeves, with twin, cape-like cloths trailing down her back, and snug pants.

He lead her to the ballroom and threw open the dark burgundy curtains with a wave of his hands, letting in what silvery light he could get through the tall windows in the round.

“Really Ben? Dance lessons?” Rey said, her voice still groggy from lack of sleep, aura a bit on the mottled, dark gray side today.

“Most any formal event you're going to end up going to will require _some_ amount of dancing,” he said, turning smoothly on his heels to face her and holding out his right hand.

She let out a light little laugh and begrudgingly accepted his hand, letting him lead her down to the floor.

“Go easy on me though, I've never danced – and I apologize in advance for stepping on your toes.” Rey said, a little nervously.

“Good thing my mother insisted I take lessons since I was eight years old.” he murmured with slightest upward turn of his mouth as they settled in the middle of the polished marble ballroom.

“Straighten up,” he instructed gently, Rey readily rolling her shoulders back and tilted up her head just slightly to meet his eyes.

He took her right hand in his and held their arms up, guiding her left hand to rest demurely on his shoulder, placing his own left hand gently in the curve of her waist.

“Why do you have to be so tall?” she mumbled, already starting to feel the uncomfortable stretch in her left arm.

His smile twitched just a hair wider at the sliver of rose in her essence, before he tossed his head to the side and the lattice-structured, crystal sonograph in the corner alcove of the room switched on at his command, playing a recording of a steady waltz that echoed up to the vaulted ceiling.

“Traditionally, the man leads,” Ben began, fully anticipating Rey's frustrated, puff-of-breath interruption “but that doesn't mean you get to slack off.”

Rey recoiled in faux shock.

“Ben Solo, I would never!” she said, in her fake posh accent she'd been trying on him in etiquette lessons before.

But she wasn't going to get out a laugh out him this morning – one of them had to be at least a little serious, or they were never going to be able to keep time.

“Feel the rhythm in the music and count the beats – _1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3..._ ” he instructed. Rey took over the mantra.

“ _1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3._ ” she intoned under her breath until she could keep count in her head.

“Good. Now for every step I move, you mirror it. If I start with my right foot back-” he moved.

“Left foot forward.” Rey finished, mirroring.

“Right foot forward-”

“Left foot back.”

“Right foot right-”

“Left foot left.”

“You've got it. But, it's not that straight forward.” he teased, lightly.

“Of course it isn't.” Rey sighed, making his canines flash, if just for a moment.

“Every movement happens in threes, and you've got to count the beats on your toes until they work their way into your muscle memory. Try to follow along and count.”

He did four simple steps – back, left, forward, right – Rey just managed to understand what he meant.

“Okay, I think I see what you're getting at.” she said, with a relieved breath.

“Let's try it again.” he smiled encouragingly.

They continued their little box step in a series across the floor, though Ben tried to generally stick to the same pattern of movement.

Rey predicted wrongly what the last step was going to be however and crushed the toe of Ben's boot.

“Sorry!” Rey exclaimed as he grunted in pain. She could almost feel a dull ache in her own toes, though perhaps it was just the new, gray, slightly heeled boots she'd decided to wear today.

“No, it's okay – you did warn me. The trick is to delay your feet just a split-second before your partner pulls you along if you really aren't sure where they're going.” Rey cringed.

“Won't that ruin our timing?” He smiled at her smart question.

“Fortunately, they thought of a solution to that – traditional, choreographed dances.” Rey grinned.

“Ah, of course they did.”

“Now that you've got the basic waltz step, I'll show you the Coruscantian Waltz.”

It was no more complicated then adding a quarter or half-spin to each step they took, Rey circling Ben as he lead her arm over his head, and knowing when to spun under his arm, or into his arms. Unfortunately, it was a little dizzying, and Rey had to keep apologizing as she lost her balance and kept tripping over, or else, stepping on Ben's toes.

“How is it that a Jedi as coordinated as you are-” began Ben, gently teasing, despite his likely bruised toes.

“I know, I know!! I'm sorry!” she breathed hotly into the hands that hid her face, pulling her palms roughly down her cheeks. “I'm like a Bantha in quick-sand when it comes to dancing.”

“You only just started learning _today_ , Rey. You're success with swimming yesterday? That was the fluke.” he said, lightly.

She met his eyes, still clearly frustrated with herself. He gave her a one shouldered shrug, boyish and plain to emphasize his point.

“Ordinary people aren't good at anything when they're just at the beginning.”

Rey wandered, both stubborn and coquettish, back into the waltz posture, clasping Ben's right hand determinedly.

“You and I are hardly ordinary people, Ben Solo.” she said, shedding half a grin. He was on the verge of correcting her when she continued. “Okay, I'm ready; let's try again.”

It took a few more tries, but Rey found it became much easier when she felt the beats in the music instead of counting in her head – she got lost in the gentle, sweet melody chiming from the corner and focused instead on what movement came next. After a few goes around the room, she didn't even really have to think about the steps.

Suddenly she was just floating along in a gentle stream, Ben's kind smile catching her eye and his tender hand at her back keeping her nice and secure in their orbit. It was like listening to the Force, the pull of his body and the kinetic energy between them directing where she needed to go. Her feet moved so lightly it was almost like they didn't even touch the ground.

He spun her under his arm one last time and they found themselves back in the center of the room where they'd begun just as the waltz ended.

Ben had to shake himself out of his stupor, he'd been terribly mesmerized by their magnetic movements and the smile that had blossomed on Rey's lips as she'd gotten the hang of things.

“And, of course, I bow to you, and you curtsy once we're finished.” he said, his voice coming out softer than he expected.

He bowed from the waist, keeping his eyes on her, and the curtsy she dropped into was so sweeping and so elegant it quite caught him off guard. Her lashes kissed her cheeks and he became puzzled.

In the half-light of the room, he hadn't noticed immediately, but he was drawn irresistibly to her eyes. Were her lashes darker today? Whatever bit of makeup she had done, it looked quite fetching on her.

He had to cough to force a bit of breath back into his lungs.

She came up from her curtsy flushed and pleased with herself.

“Can you tell I've been practicing?” she said. He breathed out a chuckle.

That explained it, then.

“I can, actually.” he said, offering her his arm, even though he thought that was enough etiquette for today.

She wrapped her hand around his elbow, making him smile.

“I'm never quite sure what to do with my arms.” she cringed, the Rey he was used to poking back through as they left the ballroom.

“What you did was lovely, Rey.” he said, elated at the way her essence flushed magenta.

“I still don't know how I managed to learn that dance just now – I was so sure I was going to keep tripping.” He smiled.

“You just had to trust your instincts is all, let your Jedi training and practiced balance take over.” She giggled.

“S'pose you're right – tell me though,” she said suddenly switching topics, “not all the traditional dances are that stuffy and precise right?”

He could only throw back his head and bark out a laugh.

“Just wait until tomorrow, the Twi'lek Cadenza is _ridiculously_ fast and loose.” Her essence flashed with a little sunflower of yellow.

“I can't wait.”

* * * * *

After a light lunch of Dewback _filet mignon_ leftovers, they spent the afternoon meditating in the garden, intermittently distracting each other with playful, sweet kisses. It wasn't until evening arrived that Ben came to the realization that he had run out of activities to suggest and told Rey to choose something.

She flirtatiously reminded him that he had agreed to give her cooking lessons.

He took a risk and decided to instruct her on how to make a real meal this time – a spicy, succulent Shaak roast on a bed of mashed tubers.

He tried to keep his distance and only supervise and instruct, but monitoring the cooking meat and turning it in the oven while keeping the tubers from boiling over in their softening pot proved too taxing for Rey to do at once, so he had to step in and lower the heat.

“I told you, I had it handled!” she quipped, pulling the wooden spoon from his grasp, catching him off guard as she forced herself to still and stir the tubers gently.

“They were about to boil over, pardon me for trying to save them!” he exclaimed.

The timer went off and Rey whipped out a set of potholders from a drawer and removed the pot from the heat. She drained the water in the food sink and her presence was flaring orange and red as she mashed the boiled tubers with a whisk, with more vigor than was strictly necessary.

“Um...Rey, not that I'm questioning your technique,” she shot him a glare “but while the tuber mash will be extra velvety, I don't know that a-” he reached over her and tried to pry the whisk from her hands, her stubborn elbows beating him back “flimsy metal whisk is going to survive that kind of force-”

In the flurry of limbs, Ben's hand smacked into the side of the pot. He yanked it away, skin flaring red as he hissed in pain.

Rey's whisk clattered to the floor. She was at his side in a second, tugging his injured hand to her chest, her essence flashing and sparking in her vehemence. Her crackling energies coursed into his and the cooling, calming effect they had on the burn was instantaneous.

All the same, Rey found she was having difficulty catching her breath.

Ben's brow furrowed in concern at the sight of her pale face.

“Rey-” he tried to clasp her cheeks in her palms, but she merely grazed his knuckles with her lips and bent to retrieve her whisk. She wordlessly washed it in the sink and finished mashing the tubers, much more gently this time.

She portioned out the bit of butter and salt to season them, and when the second timer went off, gingerly removed the glistening, browned roast from the oven, placing it on the counter, her back to him.

“Done.” she said, tonelessly, gently peeling off her oven mitts.

_Please talk to me, starlight._

Her shoulders tensed and he brushed up behind her, hands rubbing warmth and strength into her small shoulders, pressing a gentle kiss against her temple.

She turned around in his arms and pushed back against his shoulders, brown eyes boring into his.

“Even here, now that the war is over, now that you're as free from darkness as anyone can be, still, we're in danger.” she murmured. His heart sank.

“Yes, Luke's warning. I've been wondering about that too – but it doesn't make any sense. The remaining numbers of the First Order dwindle smaller every day, according to Dameron-”

“Luke's warning worries me too, but that's not what I meant.” Rey corrected. Ben's essence retreated from hers a bit, melting into worried blacks and dark blues.

“Ben,” she stared into the depths of his soul “you nearly _died_ yesterday.”

He clutched her shoulders.

“A reckless accident I'll be sure not to repeat.” She brushed off his hands.

“You don't understand-”

“Of course I do. You were terrified out of your mind.” She swallowed and nodded her assent.

“Do you know the things I dreamt about last night?” He could already sense her fear thrumming between them.

“No, but...I can imagine.” Her brow creased anxiously.

“One scenario after another, all of them of you dying. And more often than not...you did it to save me.”

Rey said, a breath above a whisper, but to speak the truth out loud felt more like a shout to her. She met his eyes and latched onto his shoulders with her hands.

“Ben, please, I need you to promise me something, or I may never sleep soundly again.” The kiss he gave her warmed her from within completely, like a full mug of delicious tea.

“Name it.” he murmured, the sight of her brown eyes consuming his field of vision.

“I know we can't plan for every eventuality – that's impossible. But please, promise me you'll never try to sacrifice yourself for me again.”

The silence stretched, tenuous and uncomfortable.

He was searching his mind, trying to very carefully pick out the right words.

He slipped out of her grasp to arm's-length.

“I'm sorry, Rey, but I can't promise you that.”

The change was horrible to witness. Her face turned white as sheet, eyes widening to the size of dinner plates.

She could scarcely breathe, much less find her voice, but eventually, she managed.

“Ben...why?”

His hands slid down her arms to clasp her hands, warm and comforting in their pressure. But not to her.

“Rey, if your life is in danger – to the point where it's either you or me – there's no question. It's not even a choice.”

She yanked her hands away.

“You'd give up your life like that – leave me alone in the Force?”

“So you could _live_ , Rey! I'd do it in a heartbeat, I already _have!_ ”

Every word was a laser blast to her chest, burning small holes in her with their uncivilized sting. Her eyes were starting to burn with her tears. His hazel orbs took on a tortured look.

“Please, Rey, don't look at me that way. Wouldn't you do the same if our roles were reversed?”

“Yes!! Of course I would!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “You have something to fight for, a reason to still be here. You need to reclaim your life!! I've saved the galaxy, what could they possibly still need me for?!”

The way she was talking about herself hurt more than anything. Didn't she know? Couldn't she tell how she meant everything to him?

“ _I_ need you!! Stars, Rey, I'm lost without you! I have no idea what to do with my life or where to go from here – the only thing I know for certain is that I'm not going anywhere without you!”

But his exclamations of love, his beautiful words of certainty and caring – everything she'd ever wanted in her life – fell on deaf ears.

Her anger was dark and brewing, washing and foaming beneath the surface like the seas of Kef Bir. Something she'd been keeping inside could be concealed no longer and had to come out. And her exhausted mind and tired body were doing nothing to hold back the onslaughts, the doubts, the flood of scalding truth.

“But you, you still have people who care about you, who could guide you without me!!” Images of General Calrissian and Chewie flashed into her mind, likewise in his. She flung her arms open, vulnerable.

“ _All my mentors are dead!!_ Without you, I'd be just as lost in the dark. But you, you have a family name that will make people love you and forgive you in time! _What do I have that's worth saving, Ben?!_ ”

His heart seemed to freeze solid with her words.

“Rey, you can't mean that.” he said, his chest squeezing painfully. How could she possibly believe she meant so little?

She bit her lip so hard it bled.

“I do.”

“Rey, what would FN – _Finn_ say to that? Or Dameron? Or that pilot, Rose? You can't possibly believe that they could withstand living in a world without you either.”

“They'd manage.” she snapped, eyes blurred with tears.

“Don't you dare, Ben. I swear to the Force and all I hold dear, if you go killing yourself over me...” Her voice broke and she dissolved into sobs.

He was flabbergasted. He could not understand where all of this was coming from.

Her petrified fear of his instinct to take a shot for her, if necessary, made sense after yesterday's scare. He himself was keeping Luke's lightsaber firmly on his belt after that.

But what was this business about “his family name”?

“Rey...if life is kind, we'll never again have to be in a situation where it's your life or mine. But – I have no idea what you're saying! Why would people love me for the name my smuggler father gave me? What does that have to do with – anything?” he said, voice suddenly quiet, hands placating as she sobbed, feet away from him.

And then she exploded.

“ _I'M A PALPATINE!!!_ ” she roared, her maelstrom consuming him “ _Every last Force-sensitive person who looks at me knows it and I HATE IT! I would give anything, ANYTHING to unlearn who my family is, to be NO ONE AGAIN!!_ ”

She fell to the floor in a fetal position, rocking back and forth, her voice coming out in barely understandable, choked sobs.

“ _It's only a matter of time before they find and hate me for it. No one will trust me ever again. I'm going to be followed by a legacy I didn't choose until the day I die._ ” she keened, pitiful and small. She raised her red eyes to meet his.

“If you hadn't gone to the dark, where would I be?” Her eyes grew wide, little glass orbs in danger of shattering at a moment's notice. “Now that you've come back to the light, what'll happen to me?”

Though he could feel his own anger simmering in his chest, it paled in comparison to his sympathy for her. As such, Ben kept his voice level, crouching down to her level.

“Rey, that's not how the Force works. Trust me, just because I'm back in the light doesn't mean your end of the dyad has to go dark. We're both in the gray – we're a balancing act, and we'll both be just as dark or light as anyone. All that matters is that we _choose_ to stay balanced, each day, even when it comes to the little things.”

She hurled a comment at him that cut him to the bone.

“Do you still wake up every morning, feeling that pressure in your temples? Feel the dark trying to enfold you? I should know, I feel it to.”

He shook his head, hardly daring to listen.

“Look around you, Ben, don't you feel it? Don't you feel your grandmother's sadness and loss in this place?” She was resigned.

“Love has never worked out for Jedi, not once. And when something as commonplace as a lake monster can rip it away from us – a once-in-a-lifetime dyad – there's no saving us. We aren't special, Ben. We're still just as vulnerable. Especially to the dark.”

There was a shadow in her eyes of something monstrous as she said it, something decisively not Rey, and he didn't like it one bit.

His anger burned brighter, why wasn't she listening to him?! What was she even saying?!

“Rey, go upstairs. You're exhausted and you're not yourself-”

She was on her feet in a second.

“Don't. you. dare. tell me to calm down.” she warned, darkly.

He reminded her promptly that he was nearly a head taller than her.

“You aren't thinking clearly, Rey, you're choosing to let the dark in right now-”

“How do you know that I'm not thinking more clearly than ever?! We're _doomed_ , Ben, can't you see that?! Even if death doesn't come knocking, even if you're acquitted, before long, the whole galaxy will know the truth about me – _they'll tear away any future I've been dreaming of, and it's not even my fault!!_ ”

And here was the root of it, the truth she'd been trying to hide, even from herself – especially from herself.

Rey Nobody had had hope in spades, a future, a plan, goals.

Rey Palpatine was going to have judgment reigned down upon her for her dearest wish of family, granted in the darkest of ways.

It was too horrible to even comprehend. It almost made her want to vanish back into a desert alone, where no one would find her ever again, until the galaxy forgot all legacies.

She felt so very tired.

But Ben Solo was starting to boil over.

“You want to talk about faults?” he said, his voice hard.

“I'm responsible for the deaths of _thousands_ across the galaxy – even if they weren't all by my hand, they were done by my Knights, or my Order, or some other dead Sith trying to paint my hands with blood. I tore apart families, separated children from parents to do away with any Force-sensitives who could have challenged me. Planets were destroyed on _my_ Master's orders.”

Tears were starting to prick the corners of his vision too – it was too much, too much for him to remember and take it on all on his own.

“And that's a far heftier legacy to live with than any my family name stuck me with, because it's _mine_.” he growled.

“But you can grow – you can change, Ben. Your life will continue on past the legacy that Kylo Ren leaves behind.” Rey murmured, exhausted.

“You have a chance. The person who created my legacy set it stone when he died.” She mumbled, starting to back out of the room, vaguely feeling like she'd lost her appetite, her bed hypnotically calling her name instead.

All he saw through his blind anger was her walking away, leaving him in a whirl-wind of pain.

Despite her stupor, she felt the moment when grief split Ben's heart in two.

“ _Do you know what death set my fate in stone, Rey?_ ” he roared, voice heavy with tears. “ _Can't you guess, you ignorant scavenger?!_ ” he spat, rounding the island and marching towards her, igniting his lightsaber, turning back to his old, instinctual tactics to make her listen.

“ _My own father – I KILLED my family name!_ ” he sobbed, pointing the saber's blade in her direction, but not near enough to her to make it even half a threat “You...you haven't killed anyone. Don't talk about what you don't know – what you can't comprehend...you're no murderer...”

For the briefest moment, Rey saw a flash of the old hellfire anger, the familiar pain of Kylo Ren being torn apart by heartbreak, being reflected in his hazel eyes, darkened by the blue light of his saber.

Then the shadows closed in on Rey Palpatine, the white's of Ben's eyes grew wide, and the sound of her name rang in her ears as she fell to the black.


	13. XII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rain comes to Theed Palace and forces Rey and Ben to stay inside, and, eventually, talk things out.

XII.

Ben Solo, being an only child and having no extended family, had never had to tuck any younger siblings or cousins into bed.

But the not-knowing-how didn't prevent him from carrying Rey upstairs in his arms and doing just that.

He knew she would be okay instinctively, she just needed to rest. He, meanwhile, had a roast he had to put away before the thing spoiled on the counter over-night.

He didn't bother to taste it. He'd quite lost his appetite.

He lay awake in his own bed for a little while, Rey's words careening around in his brain, missing her bodily warmth, but not daring to crawl into her bed.

It scared him how much her pessimism tore him down, just as her optimism could lift him to new heights.

It was even more disturbing to have all his family legacy fears reflected back at him.

But regardless, the weight of her words lifted from him as he fell asleep.

What plunged into his chest and reopened the gaping, weeping wound there was his own guilt.

For just the tiniest moment, he'd let his anger consume him again, albeit it came from a much sadder place than ever in his life.

And he'd seen the flash of fear in Rey's eyes before she'd passed out.

* * * * *

Rey had never before woken up to rain, but she was starting to learn there was always a secret time limit to the 'nevers' in her life.

She had thought she would 'never' have a reason to fight with Ben again. Apparently, that 'never' had run out when her fury at her last name and her bodily exhaustion caused her to erupt.

The large raindrops tapping against the windows in a steady beat seemed the appropriate soundtrack to her guilt and self-loathing.

Why did she have to say anything?

Why did she have to compare their legacy pains?

...Why had she even gotten mad at his instinct to _protect_ her? That was all it had been after all – it was not as if Ben had a death-wish. Her desires to keep him safe ran perfectly parallel to his after all, they were matched in that strength.

But the way she had belittled her own worth, shared how the weight of darkness mottled the bright colors of her personal victories, her successes, her rising above her circumstances - she had sounded positively suicidal.

Now, in the morning's gray light, she understood plainly her words had been an inflammation of her desire to escape from her name, from judgment, from fear.

Fear.

She shivered at the thought.

She hadn't been Luke's pupil for long, but she knew enough to know that fear – especially fear that went ignored and unchecked – was all too easy a path to the dark side.

Now she just wanted to find Ben and apologize, move on from her outburst, but she was worried he was mad at her, wouldn't want to hear any of it.

She allowed herself the tiniest smile.

She'd just had to fall for the only person in the galaxy more stubborn than her, hadn't she?

So she reached out with her feelings, moving across their bond silently, merely examining what was in his mind, not attempting to speak to him.

The guilt she felt there was strong enough to knock the breath out of her lungs.

His fear was a pulsing undercurrent.

His anger at himself, fortunately, had lost its teeth that it'd had in his past.

And in the midst of it, a profound desire to apologize, and-

...Confusion.

Disbelief.

A gap in understanding.

She searched him and saw clearly he couldn't comprehend why she so feared her family name. The hate made perfect sense.

But he couldn't understand her fears.

And against her better judgment, contrary to all her desires to run down the hall to his room, charge into his arms and mumble 'I'm sorry' against his mouth, Rey bristled in anger.

He couldn't understand her fear? Couldn't comprehend the raw terror that she was marked as a Sith prodigy? Couldn't understand her dread at forever being associated with the darkest Sith in existence?

She let her on emotions surround her like a thick fog, hoping he was examining hers too. She hid herself behind her anger, behind her hurt, and the slight twinge of betrayal and let herself stew.

She stomped downstairs to breakfast, hating the rain for trapping her inside with the unsympathetic bastard, who should have understood better than anyone in the galaxy the fear of one's name.

* * * * *

Though the Master of the Knights of Ren had only taken recent command of the brotherhood, the Knights knew one thing very well about their mysterious head – they'd better not piss him off.

When their new Master had only been supervising the Knights for a matter of days, Trudgen and Ushar's infamous short tempers had sparked into a wildfire, and they got into another one of their legendary, devastating spats.

Living in more exposed quarters in those days, when a storm hit in the midst of their war of attrition and Trudgen's vibrocleaver turned into a lightning rod, the baradium charges that Ushar carried on him at all times as the Knight's bombardier exploded, and nearly killed the whole squad.

As punishment, once Ushar's body was nearly completely repaired and replaced with circuitry and metal, both were outfitted with excruciating shock collars that would fire at the slightest provocation, word, or combative movement from the two.

In other words, Ap'lek had friendly, unasked-for company for the better part of a month.

And recent failures had all the brotherhood on edge, even Kuruk, the sharp-shooter, who was always calm and level-headed out of necessity.

Their Master's patience was already starting to wear thin.

Their week long search of the Inner Rim had been completely, utterly fruitless. The Master seethed in his private quarters, stalking along the black tile like a caged animal while he forced his Knights to spend nearly all their waking hours meditating, trying to find the girl.

The shot of fear had brought them closer.

The swell of anger had taken them to the Mid-Rim.

But now the trail had gone cold.

How is even the keenest predator to hunt when his prey leaves behind not a molecule of scent, not a footprint in the snow?

Not even the regular threats that their Master would make their metallic bodies betray them and kill each other had persuaded the brotherhood to focus their minds on her signature in the Force.

And meanwhile, in his mind?

She was like a pulsing migraine, a light akin to the fiery exhaust from their transports' engines – white-hot and leaving auras on his shadowy corneas.

She would be a tantalizing beast to hunt for certain, she had some fight in her and that always made the pursuit that much more enjoyable.

But the promise of the hunt was an empty one, and tearing up his sparse, elegant quarters in rage hadn't quelled his temper either.

So now the Master of the Knights sat on his knees amidst the snowfall of feathers from his downy pillows, surrounded by chunks of seared ebony drift wood from his bureau, the chill from the unfeeling tile soaking into his bones, and meditated himself.

No...he prayed.

He prayed to the dark planet where he was born, for he had no one to call Father, Creator, or Master.

...At least, not anymore.

He prayed for patience, for wisdom, for the weakness of his foes, for his own strength to rise up and vanquish them.

He prayed for time to truncate up to the moment when he'd found her and was leering at his prey, salivating at the possibility of taking such raw power for himself.

* * * * *

Rey had sensed him in the kitchen on the way down to lunch, but he made himself scarce when he heard her coming. She warmed last night's dinner in the re-heater, staring at the neon, digital timer relentlessly tick down.

It had been like this all day.

She'd spent most of her time in the library after breakfast, combing through files out of boredom and curiosity.

Not even the rather humorous reports from Obi-Wan Kenobi on the training of one Anakin Skywalker could pull a smile from her.

But the second she could sense he was nearing her, she'd shut off the holo-projector, sent the data disks flying back to their spots on the shelves, and had vanished back into her room.

She'd periodically checked his mind throughout the day, to be sure. But still, despite how sincere and apologetic she sensed he was (and maybe even a twinge lonely), that confusion remained and her anger stayed at a dull simmer.

Having grown listless and bored from her time in the library, she decided she may as well meditate.

She crossed her legs beneath her, sitting on the downy, plush carpet in her bedroom, and allowed her mind to clear, relaxing each muscle group in turn until she felt positively incorporeal.

The Force welcomed her with a brilliant flourish, ever-warm and pleasant.

When she opened her mind's silvery-blue eyes, however, she was far from alone among the light.

“ _Spitfire, can't you see you're making yourself miserable?_ ”

She scowled and audibly growled in frustration, turning her back to her mentor – who, mind, probably knew nothing about relationships.

Luke Skywalker was ever the perpetual bachelor.

“ _And more than that, you're making_ him _miserable._ ”

“ _He doesn't understand._ ” she shot back. His flesh and metal hands rested on her shoulders and she had half a mind to throw him off.

“ _Then_ make _him understand. Talk to him – you two were always good at that._ ” He chuckled, dry and crisp.

“ _Even when you were on opposite sides of the war and loved talking in vague, declarative statements._ ”

She wasn't even going to ask him how he knew that.

Luke crouched down at her side, trying to meet her eyes.

“ _He feels horrifically guilty for getting upset with you._ ” he said, his tone sobering. She sighed and met his gaze.

“ _I know. I've been reading his mind all day._ ” She abruptly stood. “ _But how can he not understand? He hated his family name too!_ ”

“ _Yes, but he never feared it like you do. He was terrified of never living up to it...You're scared of meeting its every expectation._ ”

The shot of cold to her chest was enough to freeze her heart – the truth hurt.

“ _And let me tell you, Rey, the easiest path to the dark side for you is turning away from him, losing his valuable guidance, his knowledge of what slipping away feels like._ ”

Her eyes snapped up to his and her heart pounded against her rib cage.

“ _You two need each other – but that doesn't mean it will always be easy. You'll fight, you'll bicker and disagree, all couples do. Just ask my sister._ ” he said, with a roll of his eyes.

“ _But it is necessary to talk about these differences in opinions and opposite views, otherwise it will grow into a resentment that could rend you two apart._ ”

“ _I feel so foolish, Master Luke._ ” she finally managed to get her tongue in working order, grimacing at herself. “ _I said a great many things I shouldn't have and didn't mean. I just felt so...angry. And scared._ ”

Luke nodded slowly in understanding.

“ _Start by telling him that. And as for your fears, I'd recommend a healthy amount of faith in your friends – tell them the truth and watch how the secret of your heritage will lose all power over you. Trust me, it will be an easier truth for your friends to swallow than your rescue of their greatest enemy, and even that they were able to accept._ ”

Could her Force-energy blush in shame? She certainly felt that way in this moment.

“ _And as for the matter of your last name...I think he'll have some advice on what to do with that too..._ ”

And with that, Rey returned to her body, dropping back to earth and the plush, faux fur carpet. She sighed in resignation and stood, locking onto his Force-signature just down the hall.

She was surprised when her path-finding took her not to his room, however, but down the hall to the library. She made no effort to muffle her footsteps or conceal herself in the Force, she just made her desire to reconcile prominent in her aura and walked in slowly.

Even at a glance, she could tell he wasn't anywhere near the holo-projector. Puzzled, she began walking up and down the lines of shelves, searching. Near the back of the room, she spotted him kneeling at the end of a row of shelves, fidgeting with something on the wall.

He had her toolbox with him, and curls of plaster were starting to accumulate on the floor.

All thought of apologies were forgotten.

She marched up behind him and ripped the chisel from his hand, startling him.

“What do you think you're doing?! Renovations?!” she exclaimed. He frowned at the sight of her.

“Tell me you can't sense something behind this wall.” he said, tonelessly. She was completely bewildered at his sudden insanity.

“What?” she groaned. But his hazel eyes stayed adamant

“Fine,” she snipped, pressing her palm to where there was a slowly growing dent in the plaster wall and taking a deep breath.

She reached to the other side, her energies searching.

At first, there was nothing but the empty black of the wall.

Then suddenly, a dark presence, a harsh, burgundy thrum, along with a flash of moonlight, pure and clean.

Both struck her as equally important.

“They were calling me while I was trying to meditate,” he continued by way of explanation as she lowered her hand and stared at the wall in surprise.

She sucked her bottom lip in thought, glancing at the chisel.

“Well, this is no way to get through.” she said, setting down it down and rooting through her tools. Unfortunately, her thin-blade scalpel just wouldn't do the trick against clay like this. She could see only one way forward, and she wasn't sure she trusted herself when it came to something this delicate.

She sketched a square lightly against the wall with a piece of graphite.

“Trace that line with your lightsaber,” she instructed Ben “but don't let it go-” she tapped the wall experimentally, listening for the echo “more than a foot deep.”

He looked uncertain about the request, but ignited the blue saber at his belt anyway. He eased the blade a foot into the wall and traced Rey's line with exacting and slow precision.

When he finished, he tucked away the weapon and Rey was able to pry out the concrete slab with some easing with her hammer and chisel. Setting the heavy block on the ground, the two glanced into the hole they'd made, Rey's flashlight back in Ben's hand.

His canines flashed at the sight of the square, wooden cache inside the wall.

“Just as I thought,” he said, reaching inside and tugging on the square clasp with his fingers.

The wood door groaned open to reveal a smooth, dull-gray data cube

“Every self-respecting Jedi library has a restricted section, and a secret cache.” He was grinning like a school boy, tossing the cube lightly to his other hand, only for his smile to fade when he couldn't pry it open.

“Give it to me, it's probably password encrypted,” Rey muttered, snatching the magnesium cube from his and tapping away at the front section, the touch-activated buttons flaring white and blue and chirping with her contact.

She typed in the default open command and the whole thing flared red, uttering an unhappy beep. She sighed in frustration.

“This will take days to hack into.” He shrugged, rising to his feet.

“Should give you something to do, at least...” he muttered, the bitterness in his voice stealing the breath from her lungs and reminding her in rush why she'd come to the library in the first place.

_I'm sorry._

The effect her words had was so immediate he stopped mid-step.

“I shouldn't have compared my struggles to yours – that was unfair of me.” she shook her head, her scattered thoughts attempting to reorganize themselves as she stood. “I said a lot of things I didn't mean – I was angry and scared.”

He suddenly turned to face her.

“But why, Rey? I mean, I can understand that you hate your lineage – want nothing to do with it. But what is there to fear? Your friends won't abandon you, they couldn't if they tried.”

She was feeling very cold all of a sudden, all her hurricane anger from the night before turning her aura to icy doldrums.

“I know,” she said, clutching the cube “but still, I dread the association...I'd give anything to change my name.”

His shrug caught her off-guard.

“Then change it.”

The thought hadn't even crossed her mind – the concept throwing her mind through a loop.

But the idea brought instant relief and clarity.

“If your family name doesn't suit you, pick one that does. Who's going to stop you?” he continued.

She dwelt on the question, mulling through the possibilities, fingers tapping aimlessly on the cube.

She could take on Luke's last name, she had been his student, however briefly, and was his spiritual successor.

Or Leia's perhaps. Then again, the thought made her uncomfortable – _Rey Organa_. She was hardly Leia's daughter and didn't want people to think she was actually related to one Benjamin Organa-Solo.

She could just make up her own – or pick the name of whatever planet she settled on.

_Rey Naboo_

_Rey Corellia_

_Rey Coruscant_

_Rey Solo_ , a tiny voice in her head whispered.

Stars, she hope he hadn't heard that.

Not that she would be against taking his name, just that it was rather soon to be talking about, or even thinking about, marriage.

But the thought sent such delightfully warm chills running down her back...

“Rey Skywalker,” she said, decisive, trying out the sound of it on her tongue, finding she liked the flow of it.

Ben couldn't help the slight chuckle he choked on.

“If that's what you choose, Rey.” he said, a laughing smile dancing across his lips.

_For now_ , whispered the little voice.

“It is a little ostentatious though.” he said, wandering back to her and lifting the cube from her hands.

His humor-filled smile fell away and he set the cube on the shelf next to him, gathering her hands in his and brushing his lips against her knuckles. His aura morphed into a somber deep blue.

“I'm sorry for what I said, too. I didn't mean to get so angry with you.” he said, the shadow of the lost boy slipping into his dark eyes for a moment.

She stretched up and pressed a tender kiss to his cheek.

“I forgive you. You had every right to be upset.”

“As did you.” he murmured in her ear, wrapping his arms around her. “The weight of legacy is a great and terrible thing.”

“Let's just agree to never have another 'who-had-it-worse' debate – we've both had it bad, in equal and uniquely horrible ways.” she whispered, burying her nose in his raven locks.

“Agreed.” he mumbled against her lips, kissing her and savoring the sweetness he'd been missing all day.

“What got you to change your mind, clear you of your anger?” he asked later over dinner.

The cheesy noodles he'd made were a homey comfort she was trying to inhale, at the moment. She'd never had anything so simple and yet so delicious. Swallowing roughly, she answered.

“Luke reminded me I'd be far worse off without you.”

The smile that arose on his face carried a bit too much laughter for her taste.

“What?!” she exclaimed.

He grinned, cheeks flaring, barely containing his laughter.

“Mother reminded me – sharing all the excruciating details – that she and Han went through far worse spats in her day and still turned out alright.”

Rey Skywalker, far from being a dignified Jedi Mistress, wasn't afraid to snort her noodles out through her nose as she howled with laughter from second-hand embarrassment.


	14. XIII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben play hide and seek in the woods as a training exercise and make some interesting discoveries.

XIII.

Rey Skywalker, despite being habitually petulant, not to mention stubborn and unapologetically rude, had gotten surprisingly good at dancing.

The Coruscantian Waltz, Twi'lek Cadenza, Corellian Foxtrot, Alderaanian Tango, and the Pasaana Salsa were now all practiced weapons in her dancing arsenal, and she felt confident enough after her few weeks of practice that she could dance at any function she was invited to attend.

Her confidence was the fire to the oil of Ben's passions, and he wasn't going to lie – he was optimistically starting to wonder if they were ready to take the next step in their relationship.

Her eager, persistent kisses told him a resounding 'yes,' but her gentle, chaste cuddles in bed said otherwise.

Yet, he could feel the undercurrent, the roiling tumult of desire in her whenever he rolled over onto his side in the mornings and started arduously kissing her neck.

He figured soon it would all build to a head, and he'd have no choice but to plainly ask her what she wanted, how she felt about him – no matter how embarrassed he might feel about the situation. Regardless, every day the desire to do something special just for her sparked brighter.

Trouble was, he couldn't figure out what he should do.

...Beyond telling her he loved her of course. That he was finally ready to do.

And he'd nearly slipped up on multiple occasions already – his ambition to make the moment when he told her unforgettable the one thing that held his tongue.

At the moment, they were reviewing dinner etiquette over a savory, tangy fish lunch Rey had prepared – “Entirely on her own,” she'd reminded him, gorgeously flushed with pride.

Either that, or it was the blush from the bit of makeup she was starting to wear regularly now – nothing too fancy, she'd merely smoothed out her skin and accentuated her cheekbones, darkened her lashes and lined her eyes with kohl.

But Ben would be lying if he said even the slight difference didn't make his heart race.

Ben cleared his throat, catching an obvious mistake from across the table.

Rey sighed, a ribbon of rose-gold swirling in her aura – flirtatious amusement.

“What is it now, Ben? Is it my posture again? Or did I strangle my wine glass?” she said, nodding at the glassful of non-alcoholic, red, pearl's egg fruit juice she'd just set down. He grinned over his cup of earl gray she'd prepared that morning – a delicate blend including snow-bud and cream.

She was improving immensely when it came to crafting subtle flavors.

“No, those bad habits you've managed to fix in the course of the week.” Rey bit her bottom lip in thought, glancing down at the spread of multiple utensils.

Her eyes brightened as she set down her fork.

“I didn't switch my salad fork to the main course one.” she said, twirling the right one in her fingers as she tucked into her (Ben had to admit) perfectly seasoned meal.

His smile quirked a bit wider – she was starting to get the hang of it.

The rest of the meal went off without a hitch.

Not to mention, the taste of the chocolate truffle dessert she'd prepared had nearly made his eyes roll back in pleasure.

Ben collected her from her end of the table with a sigh, offering her his elbow.

“It seems I've run out of things to teach you, sun-rey.” She grinned.

“And if I'm correct, you promised to tell me an embarrassing story of my choosing once I'd conquered dinner etiquette.”

His cheeks flared and he cringed in fear.

“Force, did I?” She dissolved into giggles.

“Yes, you did, my knight.” He threw his head back and groaned, exaggerated and begrudging, making her laugh beautifully. He dropped her arm as they wandered the ivory and red-quartz corridors, the lesson clearly over.

“Fine. What do you want to hear?” he asked.

“Who, exactly, was the lucky girl whom you declared your love to at age seven?”

His eyes brightened in recognition and he let out a bark of laughter.

“Oh, that! And for a moment there you actually had me worried.” Rey scowled at him, only enchanting him more, if such a thing were possible.

He spread his arms wide, setting the scene.

“I was just starting my schooling at Coruscant's Ninety-Ninth-Ward Primary School when I met this fearless, red-headed tomboy named Ánci Pelleck. She was always getting into trouble with the boys my age – sneaking off school grounds during recess to go find stray pets, hunting mecha-bugs behind dumpsters, that sort of thing.”

“Fearless tomboy huh? You had a type even then?” Rey teased, making Ben's cheeks flare crimson – to the point where own face caught fire because of their bond.

He hadn't even thought to recognize the similarities between his childhood crush and his Rey.

She became beside herself with laughter.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Ben said, gently jabbing Rey in the ribs to silence her incessant giggling and regain control of the conversation “her enthusiasm for adventure was...I don't know, admirable and cool I guess, and I started hanging around her and her friends – getting into similar trouble. One time, when we about to be caught jumping the fence, she grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me.” he said, chuckling as Rey grinned in surprise.

“She made it seem like we were about to be carted off to prison or something, and this was her one chance to tell me how she felt about me.”

“Melodramatic _and_ reckless – perfect for you.”

He simply _had_ to pick Rey up in his arms and throw her over his shoulder then, anything to make her squeal and apologize for her teasing. He peppered her face with kisses as he set her back down though – much more effective at leaving her speechless than carrying her around like a sack of tubers.

“I didn't know the first thing about romance then, but regardless, we were boyfriend and girlfriend that first year – if only in name...and in how we were thick as thieves...” he said, nuzzling her nose affectionately, making her aura flare with love.

“And in how you said 'I love you' to one another.” Rey corrected, eyes still glinting with mischief.

Stars, there it was.

He had to swallow thickly to reset his brain. Even if it was those three words, in the right tense and order, they weren't directed at him. Not yet.

She cocked her head, surely feeling how his mind had stalled, so he prattled on to fill the silence, continuing down the hall with her hand in his.

“But, she quickly became interested in at least three other boys in her gang, so by the time second year rolled around, we were no longer 'boyfriend and girlfriend.'” he said, with a gesture indicating hyperbole and sarcasm.

“I imagine the heartbreak was pretty easy to deal with that young.” she said. His canines flashed in amusement.

“I bounced right back from it, no broken heart to speak of.” he shrugged “After all, there wasn't much to miss. She only tried to kiss me the one time. And we stayed friends for several years after.” he said, puzzling over their shared history.

“How many years after?” Rey said, all genuine curiosity. He'd found out early she wasn't the jealous type.

His brow furrowed and his feet stalled.

“Ánci came with me to Luke's Jedi temple.” he said, a revelation even to him.

“Really?” Rey breathed, marveling “One of your childhood best friends turned out to be Force-sensitive and stuck with you all the way through Jedi training?”

“We lost touch once we entered secondary school. I hadn't seen her for years at that point, but...it must've been her. I just didn't recognize her because we'd both grown up in that time. But she was from Coruscant and had the same last name.

"I assumed at the time it must've been a cousin or older sister of hers. At any rate, we didn't have much of a chance to reconnect. I was...preoccupied at the time.” he concluded, brow furrowing a bit, but his aura didn't drop into cold sadness the way it had used to whenever the darker parts of his life were mentioned.

Day by day, he was getting used to making peace with his past, however difficult it was to find that peace.

Rey nodded, squeezing his hand and gently encouraging him to hold to his hope and be kind to his mistakes, just like they'd practiced.

Ben shook his head to clear it, squeezing back in a short pulse.

“How about we do a bit of training in the woods again today?” he said, changing the subject and thinking of something else to do.

Rey groaned.

“More lessons Ben?” He smiled, eyes crinkling at the corners.

“Just an exercise. I'm sure this'll be an easy one for you.” he said, placing a peck against her temple and turning to the stairs. “Get changed and I'll meet you outside.”

* * * * *

She dressed in an eggshell romper that she'd dubbed her Jedi training clothes and stood by him at the lake-shore in a matter of minutes.

“The object of this game is simple,” Ben breathed by her ear, sending tingles down her spine despite the frequency with which he tended to whisper in her ear these days, her eyes closed.

“All you have to do is hide in the woods somewhere where I won't find you.”

Rey snorted.

“I could bury myself under the lichen – six feet under – and you'd still be able to find me.” His fingers darted to her chin and tilted her head back. He stole a quick kiss from her, catching her off-guard and making her flush.

“Then you'd best find a way to conceal yourself in both the Force, and the forest. Get going, you have three minutes.”

Rey eyes snapped open with a gasp to the sight of Ben grinning impishly, and she took off, charging into the trees with the sound of his steady, whispered metronome, counting down in her mind.

She scanned the forest floor, examining any fallen log, any pile of rocks, but none offered enough cover. Hiding behind a tree wouldn't do her much good either. She needed a hovel or cave or something.

_20, 21, 22, 23..._

She hummed in frustration and panic. Where?! Where could she possibly conceal herself from her dyad? Was such a thing even possible?

She shifted her weight from foot to foot.

If it was, she'd likely have to go halfway across the galaxy to disappear from his view.

She sprinted ahead with no regard for direction or purpose beyond a sturdy structure, the birds bursting out of the trees at the sound of her crashing through the forest.

She leapt over a brook that emptied into the lake and nearly slipped and fell on the muddy banks.

_56, 57, 58..._

Kriff, surely the birds had given away her position? She spotted a vague boulder twenty paces away, but even if she managed to scale the slippery thing and lay flat at the tall back, it was too close to where she'd spooked the wildlife, too obvious. She turned frantically on the spot, eyes roving up the conifers...

Well, why not?

Because it was more obvious than the boulder.

She was climber, a scavenger – if Ben knew her at all, the first place he would look was up.

She groaned and ran a hand through her hair.

How?! It was impossible.

_91, 92, 93..._

She had less than two minutes left.

She glanced behind her.

The least she could do was go deeper in without leaving any tracks. To reach her now would be too easy, given how she'd trampled the grass in her haste, and broken at least nine branches.

She tried to breathe deeply and slow her racing heart as she carefully picked her way forward, steadily and precisely.

She didn't even leave a boot-print behind, and the whispering of the forest picked up again as her intruding presence decreased with her quiet.

_116, 117, 118..._

She entered a near meditative state as she progressed ever-so-slowly through the trees, becoming one with the forest again, moving with the earth, working with the ferns and not against them.

Not too far ahead, she detected an unoccupied hollow in a particularly wide conifer.

_130, 131, 132..._

The opening was concealed by long and wide ivy trails, crafting a tight-knit net in front. She reached into the plant-life with the Force and eased apart the knot.

_145, 146, 147..._

She made just a big enough opening and forced her shoulders through, finding that she fit comfortably if she hugged her knees to her chest. She directed the ivy to move back into place, sunlight just barely filtering through the gaps in the foliage once they grew back.

_163, 164, 165..._

She slowed her breathing to a calm and steady rhythm, deep and loud for the moment, so as to properly fill her lungs. Now came the hard part.

She drew her presence away from his in their bond, pulling farther back to her side than she ever had. It felt unnatural to put such distance between them, to the point that it felt uncomfortable. Her body was missing the presence of a constant, warm hug.

But it was necessary for her to disappear. She needed to separate out her thoughts from his again or he could easily read her mind and find her, no searching in the Force necessary.

She resisted the urge to race back into the embrace of his presence and kept up the separation for a few minutes. Soon, it was the distance that started to feel natural.

Then she drew up the Force around her like a cloak. She let the energy of the forest flow through her, masking her own. She became the bark of the tree, the ivy, the dirt beneath her fingers, the insects in the hollow. She let her ego fall away completely. For a moment, she forgot Rey and just became another piece of the forest.

... _178, 179, 180._

_Ready or not here, I come._

She opened her eyes and stared resolutely ahead. She was certain the illusion and connection to the natural world would break the second she glanced down and remembered she had a corporeal, fleshy body. For the moment, she couldn't even feel her limbs. She'd gone completely numb to her body, her senses, to being alive.

But she wasn't panicked, knowing it was her doing, knowing it was just a convincing illusion.

As far as she was concerned, she was, at most, a pair of floating lungs and eyes in a tree – nothing else seemed real.

Then there was the _crack_ of a branch not too far outside and her delusion almost snapped.

He was close.

But she closed her eyes and tried to ignore any sounds she heard, focusing only on how her signature in the Force _was_ the natural world; there was no Rey, only the bark and the breeze and the leaves and the termytes skittering around above her – going about their daily business, as they always had and always would.

She could now hear the noises he made, but didn't fixate on them – she let them pass, as easily as a wandering thought in her mind when she meditated. She wasn't even a little ruffled that they were growing louder – she merely slipped into the Force more.

Even louder now were the _crunch_ of his boots over the grass, but still she just continued her steady breathing.

Louder still – she could almost hear the vibration of his steps in the earth – in her, moving _through_ her.

And then they stopped.

She knew he must be standing right outside and prepared herself for this so she wouldn't jump, wouldn't inhale sharply – even if he was staring straight at her through the ivy.

She blinked her eyes open. She could see the toes of his dark, leather boots right outside her hiding place, but her meditation went on, unwavering, patient and slow.

She was like the tide, like time, like the slow turn of the stars around them overhead.

And then Ben turned and walked on.

Her amazement almost broke her concentration.

He'd passed her _by_?

No.

Surely he'd noticed and he was just messing with her.

He'd be back in a moment to scare her.

He didn't come back.

Not in two minutes.

Not in five.

Not in _ten_.

“ _Re-ey!_ ” She heard him call out in a sing-song voice, echoing through the trees. “ _Come out, wherever you are!_ ” She only allowed herself the tiniest smile.

Not a chance.

“You've done wonderfully!” he called, approaching her tree again, but passing right by without even a hitch in his step. “I'm clueless as to where you are. You win – I give up!”

She considered his offer.

Hmmmm...no.

She'd say she'd won once _she'd_ scared him.

She gave the ivy a tap and it drew apart. Making not a sound, she emerged from her hollow painfully slowly, stretching out her spine joint by joint, her knees almost creaking with the effort.

He was only a few paces away.

She stepped lithely after him, silent as spectacled screech in flight, while his boots _swished_ through the grass wastefully.

She danced over the moss, twisted over rocks, stepped gently over a newt.

She was now an arm's-length away from him, reaching out to tap his broad shoulders.

He whipped around, dark hair flying, and she had to bite her tongue to keep from shrieking.

He stared at her.

…And kept staring.

No look of recognition. No laughter. No 'gotcha' moment.

He hummed his disappointment and turned around, proceeding back toward the palace.

Rey could barely breathe.

She decided to try her voice.

“Ben...”

He turned so abruptly he stumbled and fell onto his back. His eyes were wide – head turning left and right.

“Rey?”

“Right here.” He was still whipping his head about on a swivel.

His body forced itself to calm with a chuckle.

“Very funny, Rey. Where?”

“Directly in front of you.” His smile fell away and he stood. His eyes roved over the exact spot where she was, and still his look of confusion remained.

“I don't see you.” He reached out to touch her and grasped what felt like her hand. Still, her flesh didn't materialize on the physical plain.

Rey laughed in amazement, in utter disbelief.

“I'm invisible?! How is that possible?!” Ben shook his head, just as bewildered at she.

“It's not beyond a Jedi's capabilities for sure, but...it's not something that's been possible in millennia. Now that you've said where you are, I can definitely sense you, though,” he said, brow furrowed in concentration “But only distantly. You're barely there – less than a Force ghost.”

His pulse quickened uncomfortably as her hand slipped out of his.

It was almost impossible to sense her without the physical contact, without the reassurance of the bond.

“Rey, I don't like this anymore. Please, come back.”

She grinned wolfishly. Not just yet.

Rey gingerly moved out of the way, rooting herself to the earth once more, picking her way around him like a stilted fish-catcher.

He became wild with panic.

“Rey?! Where'd you go?! Rey!!” he exclaimed, turning on the spot, essence reaching, trying to claw its way across the bond to her, to find her.

Well, that would spoil all the fun. She had to act now.

Rey was behind him now, and when he whipped in her direction, she leapt.

They crashed onto the forest floor, a tangle of limbs, Rey relinquishing the forest's influence over her, becoming fleshy and human and feminine Rey again just in time to kiss her Knight, relishing in his surprise and wide hazel eyes.

She laughed in her throat, the sound making his mouth vibrate, but to his relief, at least he could see her again.

She kept stealing kisses from him, nipping softly at his lips in a way that quickly sent his blood roaring intoxicatingly through his veins – as it always did.

But she'd never fallen on top of him like this.

His hand shot to the back of her head, clutching her close as he molded his mouth sloppily to hers. She let herself slip back along their bond as she pinned him against the ground, ivory shawl billowing in the breeze, and the reconnecting of their auras was euphoric enough to send her head spinning.

Despite the simplicity of the action of reveling and rejoining in their bond, it was just as passionate an act as their hungry kisses.

This was more than coming home.

This was being loved, being _wanted_.

Something bloomed in Rey anew, hot and desirous.

For all of her inexperience, she could still place the emotion as want.

Ben licked her lips playfully and she welcomed his tongue into her mouth, kisses deep and sweet and lascivious. Her tongue traced the line of those canines she so adored and the effect was electric to both of them.

It was all so heady and new but suddenly she was less afraid. Her heart was racing with euphoria where before it had pattered with fear and uncertainty.

This was _her_ Ben. She knew him, felt him wrapped around her mind every moment of every day and it was bliss to know him so – to have him in her life.

For the first time, she wanted to breath him in, taste him, practically swallow him. She wanted every piece of himself he was willing to give her. Her arms were starting to tremble with her passion, fingers clawing into his hair as she lay flush on top of him.

Her fire fed into his and he moaned in his throat – a beautiful sound that filled her stomach with wonderful, unfamiliar heat – and his arms seized her and held her tight against him.

He was bruising her mouth with his eagerness, he knew, with fierce parting and returning kisses, but he could no longer hide the bottomless pit of desire he had for her.

At least, not from himself.

He rolled them over so she was on her back, pouring his love, his passion, his everything into her with his lips, their bond alive and alight with euphoria and love and lust and all the delicious chemicals they could withstand.

He parted from her for just a quick moment to breathe, and the most beautiful sound in the world passed over her lips.

“ _Ben..._ ” she said, the moan breathy and filled with longing, making him shudder.

Poised above her, his Rey laid emotionally completely bare on the forest floor, he wanted her more than he could possibly conceive. He'd never felt this way about anyone.

He hadn't known before that desire for someone could make you feel dizzy, make your chest squeeze from shortness of breath.

He swallowed and his throat was like sandpaper.

His skin was burning up – the heat impossible to ignore.

His pants had grown uncomfortably tight. That, at least, he was trying to ignore.

“Rey,” he said, grunting with the effort to not moan her name back to her “do you – do you want this?” he heaved, trying to desperately find some calm, some semblance of sanity to avoid taking her here and now.

Her smile was gorgeous, and the way her eyes brightened made his heart skip a beat.

“To kiss you senseless in the moss and keep feeling all these wonderful feelings? Yes – I'm not uncomfortable, Ben. Even if this isn't quite 'glacial.'”

And though her blush was enamoring, his heart dropped into his stomach all the same.

He crawled back off of her quickly, sitting back on his knees, passions rapidly cooling.

She didn't understand. Or else, did, but wasn't really ready.

He wasn't about to jump her bones with anything less than a kyber-clear “yes.”

“Ben?” she asked, voice laced with confusion and worry, as she sat up too. Why had he stopped? He gulped.

“That, uh – wasn't really what I...meant.” he said, trying to send the subtlest of indications across their bond, his bottomless desires speaking for him.

Rey swooned monstrously at the flood of love and lust he sent her way – the clear message of want making her practically burn up, and sending her pulse racing with that familiar, anxious feeling.

She wasn't ready for that. Not yet.

But some small piece of her she didn't understand yet, still shivered with desire.

Rey's eyes glanced down reflexively and her face turned crimson, hands coming up to cover her mouth.

Ben's whole face and neck flared as he crossed his arms over his stomach and his rather obvious bulge.

“Sorry. I got carried away.” he muttered, aura turning all sorts of nauseating yellow and green.

“No – Ben,” she said, trying to console him. It was okay. Nothing had happened – she'd liked it and they'd stopped where she'd felt comfortable. It was fine.

But he wasn't listening.

He stood up, stilted and uncomfortable, but his heat was leaving him rapidly and he was at least able to walk straight.

She was there in a second, snatching up his hand, turning him to face her.

“Maybe not today, Ben, but...I would like to.” She stretched up and gifted him the tenderest kiss on his lips, taking him completely by surprise.

“I...really would like to...try...making love – to you?” she said, the words sounding strange on her tongue, smiling terribly shyly.

Oh stars, he couldn't believe it.

He seized her in his arms and gave her a searing kiss, lifting her clean off the ground and spinning around with her, a tiny yelp getting caught in her throat. His soul with burning with light and golden energy and stardust everything that made Ben Solo beautiful.

“Do you mean it?” he said, setting her back on her feet, his beloved seeing stars.

“Yes, I think. I mean – this is all a little fast, but Force, did I enjoy it.” she said, giggly and bewildered and effortlessly _Rey_.

“You have no idea how happy I am to hear that.” he said, his smile making his cheeks hurt.

“Yes, I do! I can feel it!” she said, tapping a finger against her temple, both of them dissolving into joyous laughter.

At least, until his passions flared again at the thought that she wanted him back.

“Oh, _Rey_...” he breathed, seizing her lips with his again, warm and wet and supple, his passion pouring freely across their bond and filling her with his heat in a way that left her aching.

He didn't linger long though, pulling away to smile at her and tenderly clutch her jaw and stroke her cheeks with his thumbs.

“Just say the word, whenever you're ready.” he chuckled, but tried to sober up “- if you're ready.” he corrected.

She grinned.

“Trust me, smuggler, the last thing I would do is make up lies to please you.” He couldn't help himself – another quick kiss.

“Good, good. I'm glad.” he said, grinning like an idiot.

And then, out of the blue, like a gift from the Force, the answer came to him.

“I'd like to do something with you – tomorrow.” he said, in a rush “Think of it as – your final examination for your life as a celebrity and hero of the galaxy.”

“And what might that be?” she asked, bewildered and delighted at this change of pace. He stepped back from her and cleared his throat.

He might as well be official about this sort of thing.

He bowed low and took her hand.

“Rey Skywalker, would you do me the unique honor and privilege of accompanying me tomorrow evening at the first ball this old palace has seen in the better part of a millennium?” he said, smiling slightly and nodding his head back in the direction of his grandmother's palace.

Rey dropped into one of her lovely curtsies.

“Benjamin Solo, I graciously accept.”

He kissed her hand with perhaps a bit more fervor than was necessary and walked arm-in-arm with her, in a love-sick daze, all the way back inside.

Rey asked to sleep in bed alone that night – for the first night in a while.

After such a passionate roll in the grass – her first of its kind – she was feeling rather shy and needed a bit of space to herself.

Or, at least, to not sleep with her head on Ben's shirtless, broad chest.

She didn't think her heart could take that tonight.

Ben Solo was only too happy to oblige her.

For the first time in his life that night, his mind ran wild with pleasant, passionate dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not updating every other day per my schedule!
> 
> Good news is, I've finished writing this story, and will be attempting to update daily until all the chapters are posted from here on out! :D


	15. XIV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey attempts to use a scavenger trick to force open the data cube from the hidden cache in the library.
> 
> Ben and Rey cook an extravagant dinner together and partake in their elegant evening affair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here are the songs that Ben and Rey dance to during their ball:
> 
> Tango: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW71-sVyMzM
> 
> Salsa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVcE5PFXpbQ&list=
> 
> Waltz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjbIPdsR-oA
> 
> Please, please listen to them as you read that section. It will be obvious when each is supposed to play. I was very specific and intentional with my song choices.

XIV.

Rey Skywalker never had to assemble a fancy outfit before in her life.

As such, she had wanted to start her morning by putting it together – complete with a matching makeup look.

She'd been following instructional videos on her holo-mirror on how to apply the various liquids and pastes and powders she'd found in her bureau.

She was convinced the holos were the only reason she'd gotten so good in the first place and she needed the time to experiment and find the right combination of colors to match for her favorite dress.

Plus, she was feeling particularly indecisive that morning.

Unfortunately, a distracting comm came from Poe during breakfast, bearing bad news.

“ _The Senate accepted the trial footage into evidence. It's a part of the case file. There's just one major problem._ ” he said, the miniature Poe throwing up his arms in frustration.

“ _Luke and Leia don't show up in the footage._ ”

Rey spit her mouthful of earl-gray blackberry tea back into her mug – she'd burned herself in her shock.

“What do you mean they don't show up?!” she exclaimed, Ben gawking beside her.

“ _Force-ghosts don't show up on holo-recordings!! You can hear their voices just fine – but without their presence it just doesn't carry the same weight._ ”

Rey buried her face in her hands. This could not be happening.

Ben's fate was taking on water faster than a sinking transport.

“ _Commander D'Acy claims that General Leia planned ahead and might have left a holo recording behind to help your case, Solo, but the only problem is she's got a lot of those on file – a lifetime of them. She never deleted anything._ ” he raked a hand through his too-long hair.

“ _And their dates were all scrambled for security reasons._ ”

Ben's head dropped into his hands, fingers combing through his own shaggy mane in utter frustration.

“ _At the moment, R2 and BB-8 are trying to sort through them all. Hopefully we'll be able to find the right file before the end of the month._ ” he said, desperately trying to inject a tiny bit of hope into the situation.

“...There could be something else,” Rey said, determination sparking bright yellow in her aura. “You remember the library we mentioned we found in the palace?”

Poe was already shaking his head.

“ _Rey, I seriously doubt a bunch of dusty, thousand-year old Jedi secrets are going to win Ben's case._ ”

But Ben had caught on.

“We found a data cube in a secret cache. We can both sense there are vitally important files hidden inside.” he said.

“ _Huh,_ ” said Dameron, throwing up his eyebrows in a non-committal way “ _can I see it?_ ”

Ben held up his hand and the magnesium cube came zooming down the stairs from the library and flew straight to his palm.

Just this once, Rey decided not to scold him for using the Force across rooms indoors.

Poe's brow furrowed.

“ _Seems fairly standard issue to me. Typical opening codes didn't work?_ ” Rey shook her head.

“I've been trying every possible combination I can think of, but nothing's worked.” Poe grinned, despite himself.

“ _Maybe you need to start thinking less like a droid, Rey, and more like a smuggler. Think about who lived there – maybe clues about the residents of the palace will steer you in the right direction. It's bound to be a birth-date, or if its a Phoenician cipher, a name that would have been important to them._ ”

Rey sighed. As if the two of them hadn't thought of this already.

They'd tried every important date and name they could think of relevant to Padmé Amidala's life – from her coronation, to her secret wedding, the date she became a senator, a mother, her birthday, and not to mention, Anakin's name, her children's, her parent's, her successor's, and her own.

The trouble was, they didn't even know for certain if the data cube had been hers.

At most, Ben could only tell it had something to do with her.

“Thanks Poe, we'll keep that in mind.” said Rey, resting her chin dully on her arms. The mini holo-Poe winked.

“ _Best of luck with your detective work. I'm sure you two can crack it._ ”

And with that, he shut off his comm.

Ben smiled her way.

“He said 'palace' – wasn't he not supposed to know where we got dropped off?” Rey grinned back.

“Do you honestly think that Finn and Poe can keep secrets from each other for long?”

His eyes widened anxiously.

“I should hope so, with the Galactic Senate breathing down their necks.” Rey shook her head in amusement.

“Then you clearly don't know them well enough yet.” she said, standing and planting her palms on the table decisively.

“Alright. That settles it. We need what's in this cube.” she said, walking to the staircase and holding out her hand.

“And what do you suggest we do? You said yourself – we've tried every combination.”

Rey's toolbox flew to her hand, quickly accompanied by a spare battery from the generator room.

“Fry it.” she said, holding up a pair of jumper cables.

Ben's eyes widened fearfully.

“Are you sure that's a good idea?” She slammed the toolbox onto the counter, connecting the jumper cables to the battery, with a regulator in the circuit so she could control the amount of power she was directing into the cube.

“We're out of options, Ben,” she said, snatching the cube from him and setting it down, “unless you have a different suggestion?”

His shrug was half-hearted.

“Use the Force on it?” he offered. Rey rolled her eyes.

“Yes, because clearly, an ordinary data cube with no obvious connections to Jedi teachings what-so-ever, is going to react to the Force.”

“It was hidden in a library filled with Jedi history! If frying it doesn't work, could we at least try?”

Rey tossed her head side-to-side, pondering.

“Fine, we can try it. Now stand back.” she said, attaching the positive current jumper to a corner of the cube, completing the circuit with a spark.

She steadily began turning up the dial on the controller, increasing the voltage that was passing into the data cube – the volt-meter's beeping and pitch going ever higher and faster.

Ben looked like he had half a mind to flinch away, but he stayed firmly by her side.

The box was starting to turn a dull red.

“Rey, I think it would've opened by now...” he said wearily.

“Just a bit more...” she murmured, all her focus bent on the cube.

She had to get the kriffing thing open, at any cost. This was Ben's life they were talking about – _her_ Ben, her dyad in the Force.

She had to give him every chance to succeed in that trial – to live free.

She'd promised him.

“ _Rey..._ ” Ben warned, the box turning an angry orange and starting to spit out gold sparks.

But if she saw the danger, she was ignoring it.

“Just a little...more...”

The dial was all the way pressed, and the box flashed white hot, the volt-meter shrieking in error.

“ _REY!!_ ”

He seized her by the waist and yanked her under the kitchen table – fortunately breaking the circuit in the process as Rey pulled the voltmeter away with her and preventing the cube from outright exploding, or melting the counter.

Still, the sound like a cheap transport shuttle getting crushed by gravity upon reentry was deafening in the tiny kitchen.

Rey peaked out her head from behind Ben's shoulders, coddled by his arms, and gasped, a radiant smile on her face. She peeled herself out of his protective embrace and clambered out from under the table.

She snatched up her pliers to peel away the outside layer of the smoking cube, revealing an inner stone casing the color of a delicately cut, beveled onyx, complete with Jedi runes in gold leaf.

She gingerly tapped the box, testing it for residual heat, but found it quite cool to the touch. She picked up and tossed it lightly from hand to hand.

“Now this is a box that looks like it could be opened using the Force.” she said, flushed with success.

Ben was entirely unamused, even by her charming smile.

“ _Rey-_ ” he began, voice oozing fear.

She sighed, but understood, responding calmly.

“I know. I'm sorry. I assumed, given the size of the data cube that even if it over-heated it wouldn't explode. I wasn't trying to be reckless – you know I don't have a death-wish.” She quirked an eyebrow.

“At least, not unless your death is the alternative.”

The smile _would not_ turn his mouth if he had any say in the matter. But it did light his eyes rather handsomely, and that he had no hope of controlling.

“Even experienced scavengers make mistakes sometimes. Not unlike how experienced Sith assume giant lakes are vacant of apex predators?” she said, eyes glinting with charm.

He rested his hands on top of hers on the stone cube, merriment twinkling in his hazel orbs.

“Right.” he murmured, mouth quirking up for the briefest millisecond. “Shall we try it my way?”

Rey nodded and closed her eyes, letting her Force signature flow into the vacant little cube – her moonlight meeting Ben's sunlight halfway.

Her smile was as compulsive as it was infectious.

Stars, she was growing to love how their energies mixed – a playful and intimate experience all at once.

But despite their persuasions and coaxing, the box stayed firmly shut.

They opened their eyes in a disappointed huff.

Disappointed, that was, until they saw the runes on the box had rearranged themselves in a message.

Ben read out the clue in a curious, puzzled rush.

_To protect the secrets therein_

_And prevent them falling to darkest kin_

_Only one who walks in both_

_Can pick apart what her Highness wrote_

_By blood of noble bearing shed_

_And light freely given unlock the lid_

He sputtered his lips, bewildered.

“Why do they always have to write these things in verse?” he said, setting down the box in frustration.

“So that only the cleverest of bookworms can piece them apart?” Rey teased, playfully tapping her way up his arm to his shoulder, smile incandescent.

It at least eased his frustration a little, even if his canines were resisting her persuasions to come out and play today.

“I'll need to think it over another time. After all, today is for things other than solving family mysteries.”

Rey's eyes widened in recollection.

“Right! I should go – figure out what I'm wearing tonight!”

“Come back in – an hour or so, to help with the side-dishes?” She pecked his cheek with undisguised zeal.

“Well, it wouldn't be fair to make you do all the cooking alone.” She smirked. “Even if I get the feeling that you'd happily do it all for me.”

* * * * *

The rest of the day was spent cooking their fancy dinner for that evening – a three course feast that occupied their attention completely as Ben wanted to make only the best for Rey.

The delicate Eve's Fruit and cherry soup – spiced with cinnamon and cloves but sweet to the taste – had been the trickiest to make as it had to be constantly monitored to keep from over-flowing.

This had resulted in a lot of panicked running back and forth for both of them to inspect it as it boiled for two hours. More than once, they crashed into each other in the process, dissolving into laughter.

The happabore steaks with greens and rice was mostly Ben's masterpiece – he had insisted on taking care of the main course himself, much to Rey's pleasant surprise.

She meanwhile kneaded and baked the savory, buttery rolls that served as a palette cleanser, and whipped up the cold, light chocolate-flavored blue milk mouse for dessert.

She'd spooned out the desserts in their tall glasses as Ben added the finishing touches to the plated steaks.

Glancing at him out the corner of her eye, she, ever so slowly, lifted the mouse-covered whisk to her mouth to lick it clean.

Her arm stopped mid-arc and refused to budge.

“ _Be-en..._ ” she groaned, a smile stretching across his lips as he added the garnish to the steaks. Even with his back to her, she knew he was grinning.

“We can eat as soon as you're dressed – go on and get ready, I'll meet you down here.”

“Just one lick?” she said, batting her eyelashes coquettishly.

He rolled his eyes and sauntered over to her, loose beige shirt fluttering around his midriff though the sleeves stayed tightly rolled up to his elbows.

“I don't want you spoiling your appetite!” he murmured, gently tugging the whisk from her grasp and kissing her to sweeten the act.

She scowled and went on her way, shaking her head.

As if he _wasn't_ going to lick the bowl clean himself in her absence, absolute scoundrel that he was.

Her minor frustrations left her as she got upstairs and became a flurry of activity as she showered and got dressed.

After much deliberation that morning, she'd decided to add the slightest bit of blush to her cheeks on top of her usual foundation routine, as well as add a bit of sparkling gold powder to her eyelids to complement the mascara-thickened lashes and kohl lined-lids, drawing attention to the flecks of gold already in her soft brown eyes.

She even got a bit more sophisticated, rouging her lips with a soft, red paste, and darkening the gold-tone at the outer corners of her eyes, leaving it lighter on the inside edges and blending evenly across.

Satisfied that she'd followed her holo-mirror's instructional videos decently, she combed back her mousy hair, drawing it up into a single, rounded-bun on the crown of her head with aid of many, many hairpins, leaving a few loose strands to curl elegantly by her ears as her hair dried.

Finally came the star of the show – the gorgeous dark blue silk dress she'd fallen in love with on the first day. Strapping into the sparkly silver heels took a bit of fussing, but she managed, throwing a sparkling, trailing, midnight blue shawl over her shoulders to cover and warm them temporarily.

Lastly, she stuck a large curlicue silver pin into her hair near the part, and clasped a moderately sized six-pointed star pendant around her neck, praying it wasn't made with actual diamonds as it rested coldly against her collarbone.

She took one final glance in the mirror.

A tiny, puff-of-air laugh escaped her mouth.

She'd managed to pull it off, thoroughly satisfied with her hard-work at learning to be more dressy. She didn't look out of place in the slightest, just a more elegant version of herself.

Almost like royalty.

She hoped he'd like how she looked too.

If he didn't, he was mad.

She walked out of the room, adjusting to walking in heels as she wound her way down the staircase. She slipped her way into Ben's thoughts – curious as where his mind was wandering, though she had to assume he was ready.

Nearly an hour had passed.

_Miss Skywalker, you look positively radiant this evening. Would you care to join me for dinner?_

She flushed bright pink. How adorable! He was rehearsing.

_Is radiant really the right – ugh...would beautiful be better? No, too simple. Gorgeous? Or would she shy away from that? Force, I pushed my luck enough yesterday as it was – I can't believe she didn't throw me off of her for kissing her like that. I just want to make her feel special tonight – comfortable, adored, loved._

The whole experience was growing entirely too voyeuristic for Rey and she respectfully ducked out of his stream of consciousness. His thoughts were better left to himself.

She knew enough to know how he felt, and that was all that mattered to her.

She turned the last corner of the stairs and saw him fussing with the black buttons on his coat sleeves.

She felt her cheeks warm again.

He looked effortlessly dashing in the dark suit he'd chosen, long coattails suiting a dramatic Jedi like himself.

The shirt and waistcoat underneath the dark ensemble were light in color, white and creamy-gold, complementing his skin tone where the suit matched his long, swept back in a semblance of order, dark locks.

She paused on the stairs.

“Mr. Solo, you look terribly handsome this evening.” Rey said, a lilt of her fake posh accent slipping into her tone on accident.

If she was charmed by his sophisticated dress, it was nothing compared to the way he reacted upon turning at the sound of her voice and seeing her.

His eyes grew wide and his jaw actually fell open.

Any thought he'd had about the right adjective to describe her appearance dried up in his mind faster than a puddle of water during midday on Tatooine.

Her smile at his awe positively stole his breath from his lungs – more effective than any Force-induced choke-hold.

She floated down the rest of the stairs to join him.

The crystal star around her neck was a very appropriate accessory, his last functioning brain cells vaguely noted.

She looked like a star herself, fallen down to earth and landing right in his clueless arms.

“Ben...” she said, suddenly right in front of him and breaking him out of his reverie.

He remembered to breathe.

“Stars, you look incredible.” he managed to say, voice a breathy, high whisper, heart still pounding a fervent cadence against his rib cage. Her radiant grin and dainty curtsy were gifts to him.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Solo. How kind of you to say.”

Right.

They were doing this as a final test of her etiquette knowledge, not just for the sake of a fancy date.

He cleared his throat and remembered to offer her his elbow.

“Would you care to join me for dinner, Ms. Skywalker?” he said, voice returning to a normal volume and octave, miraculously.

“Gladly.” she said, slipping her arm into the crook of his elbow like it was made to fit there.

They'd decided to set up dinner in the long-table dining room, taking pity on the fact that it was never used.

However, in order to have a normal conversation, they'd laid out their place settings at the head of the table, across from one another.

He lead her to her seat and pulled out her chair for her, grateful to sit down himself and attempt to catch his breath. With a flick of his fingers, he sent the soup tureen floating their way and served the both of them – Rey first.

The served-cold soup was unlike any Rey had ever tasted, and she decided, scheming, if she phrased herself correctly, she could get away with making small-talk during dinner she actually wanted to part-take in – not the stuffy, vague complements he'd drilled into her during lessons.

“Pray-tell, Mr. Solo, why did you select this particular soup for this evening's meal?” she said, sipping demurely from her spoon.

He was onto her scheme in a second, but decided to let it happen anyhow.

“It was an old favorite of mine when I was a child,” he said, swallowing the last spoonful – ever the quick eater “My mother taught me how to make it.” he said, allowing himself the smallest of smiles.

“I thought on a night as prestigious as this, the choice would please her.”

Rey's heart warmed at the thought.

“I would have to agree with that sentiment, Mr. Solo. Do all your selections have similar meaning behind them?”

Ben chuckled despite himself as he sent the soup bowls floating away and slid the main course over to their spots.

“My father always enjoyed a succulent, medium-cooked happabore steak, Ms. Skywalker, but no, the other courses were merely chosen to complement and contrast with one another.” he said, lifting the covers off their warm, main course plates with the aid of the Force.

The main course and the biscuits went by without much conversation, beyond Rey complementing the cooking of the steak and Ben returning the praise for Rey's immaculately seasoned biscuits.

It was only during dessert when Ben uncorked the bottle of sweet wine he'd chosen after much fussing and poured them both a glass that things turned more serious than the façade of the evening suggested.

“Ms. Skywalker, I propose a toast.” he said, lifting up his three-quarters full glass.

“Whatever to, Mr. Solo?” she said, raising hers as well, her touch light and her grip steady. He smiled at her obvious improvement.

His tone started strong and sure, but softened and faltered as it went along.

“To the beauty of life, to the conquering of challenges that come our way, to finding an understanding and a balance in all things. In short – to life, to laughter, to strength, to love, and...to...hopefully, many wonderful years spent together...”

Rey smiled, pulse fluttering so clear and so strong that he felt it vibrate across their bond like a little electric shock.

She tipped her glass lightly against his, the echoing ring of contact clear and soothing.

“To all such wonderful things...” she murmured, drinking deeply from the heady dark wine, dark lashes dipping low onto her delicately tanned cheeks.

He almost broke all propriety then and there – seized by the insane desire to jump out of his seat, wrap her in his arms and pour his heart out to her.

Fortunately, his sudden inability to breathe kept him pinned.

Once they'd had enough to try their drinks – neither possessed a great love for alcohol, even the sweet stuff – Ben rose from his chair and collected her, leading her towards the ballroom.

“Did you plan a wide selection of music for the evening, Mr. Solo?” Rey asked as he took her shawl and hung it on the coat rack just outside the ballroom.

“Just a few orchestrations, Ms. Skywalker. I didn't want to exhaust you after such a long day of preparations.” he said, as he strode back to her side and lead her to the center of the room.

It took all of Rey's self-control to not snort with laughter.

“Ah, how considerate of you, Mr. Solo.” she said, taking his arms in their practiced dance posture.

Ben sharply inclined his head and the sonograph came to life, the string music sharp and seductive – clearly Alderaanian tango music if Rey had ever heard any.

As such, she abruptly dropped into a deep dip in time to the music, supported from the waist by Ben's strong arms, both ready to meet the music's sharp and precise demands.

They began their steady, purposeful path across the floor, whirling and turning in time with music, somber and sexy and sharp all at once.

The hardest part of learning this dance for Rey had been the ridiculously sharp and quick footwork, leg whipping around, wrapping and unwrapping around Ben's as she twisted in his arms.

Though the intensity of the routine seemed to always bring a dark smolder into Ben's eyes, the flawless execution of her footwork brought a warm smile to his face.

After such careful practice, her carriage stayed lifted and secure but not stiff, her expression serious, but not unkind, dark lips curling in a way that filled his stomach with warmth.

Rey had never quite understood the need to act while dancing as well and had always fought his instructions on matters of controlling her expression. In this moment, however, she was finally starting to get it.

The character of the dance was in everything – every little dip, twist of hips, sweeping turn, sharp turn of the head, down even to the look in the dancer's eyes.

It all had an effect on the atmosphere of the room, on the intense, passionate energy between them.

...At least, Rey thought it was only her imagination that the flame-like phosphorescents in sconces around the room had turned from a guttering gold to glaring scarlet.

One more rapid twirl in his arms and she was positively transported in an instant in her mind's eye.

She traced the obsidian floor at a First Order gala, the envy of every aristocrat's wife to be wearing a flowing, backless gown of rich velvet black, and to be on the arm of the Supreme Leader in a heavy cape of satin, lined with dark fur and gold trim, probably worth more than their husbands made in a year.

Despite the whispering of the suspicious, opulent crowd, the room quickly became a blur of ebony and scarlet as Rey was spun around rapidly by her escort and partner – the most powerful man in the galaxy: Kylo Ren.

He was every bit as severe as she remembered him, his dark hair wild and furling against his cheekbones, mouth set in a grim line, and eyes dark and boring into her soul like he wanted to tease out her every secret.

It was a dance of total seduction, and she was completely at the mercy of his lead and his power, unable to pull herself from his arms.

However, she was unafraid.

Where before, Ren's eyes had been cold pools, empty of emotion and light, something heated and longing burned in them now – pinpricks of desire for her, she realized, not out of claim or ownership, but plain desire for her, for her companionship, for her love.

She was completely at ease, moving readily in his arms, whirling and leaving tantalizing traces of her warmth where her hands lingered and fingers traced soft paths, every bit as seductive as he, but in her own feminine, subtle way.

Though he led and had all the power of the duo, she was the one drawing everyone's eye – the enchantress to his royalty, the witch to his monarchy.

She was positively enamoring and infuriating all once, coming close to kissing him several times, but always just stopping short of his lips, a warm puff of breath all he got as he heaved her above his head in an elegant swan-lift he carried her through effortlessly.

Several spins across the floor, like planets circling in each other's gravitational pull and falling into a singularity brought them to the tango's climax.

They were positively breathless when they dropped into one final dip and the music ended – the spell breaking.

The warm lights of the room returned, and Rey was just Rey again, not his First Order Empress, and Supreme Leader Kylo Ren was once again just Ben.

An easy spell of chuckling released the tension that had entered their bodies, making them uncertain.

Rey was positive what she'd just seen hadn't been a Force-vision. It had just been a very well-performed, spell-binding dance making her imagination run wild.

All the same, the delusion left her a bit shaken and feeling uncomfortably hot.

“Ms. Skywalker, your progress astounds me.” Ben said, smiling broad and sweet.

“Well, Mr. Solo, I had a wonderful dance teacher.” she answered, giving him a tiny curtsy as best she could as he clutched her hands.

He inclined his head again, starting the next song, a rapid and fun salsa, this time including vocals of a man and a woman singing an older, romantic variation of Basic – long since a dead language, but still beautiful to listen to.

The Pasaana salsa was all rapid footwork and elegant, sweeping, gestural arms. Despite the speed of the routine, it had been one of the easiest for Rey to learn, the bright energy of the routine capturing her heart and enthusiasm from the onset.

The tricky part had been remembering all the nuance of the dance – flicked wrists and turned heels, rapid hips and multiple spins, not to mention the actual difficulty: a sexy closeness to her partner.

Though she'd been a blushing mess at the start of lessons, she'd quickly grown accustomed to moving their hips in tandem and the friendly intimacy inherent to salsa.

As such, she was comfortable when she pressed her back close to his chest and she leaned against him for a brief moment, before exploding into a series of rapid spins under his arm.

They made use of the whole ballroom, strides long and fast-paced as Ben lead her along by the hand, her energy infectious.

The oscillating basic step meant Rey had to keep her hips on a constant swivel, even as her feet lead her forward.

They threw their weight around, switching from a dip against Ben's hip, to a lift on his shoulder, dropping back to the floor in a dip that held Rey up only by their grasped hands.

They became a whirl-wind of spins and the room seemed to darken around Rey as she caught flashes of his joyful smile, the fluttering phosphorescents turning to burning torches staked in the ground as they were transported again.

Suddenly, they were in the deserts of Pasaana, dancing under the stars, barefoot in the sand. Their fancy ball clothes had turned into the simple, tight wrappings and loose, beige, cotton layers of desert-folk, decorated with complex ties and earthenware beads and turquoise instead of diamonds and silk.

The idea of them dancing the night away, two ordinary young people in love, living the simple life of moisture farmers, brought up a bittersweet feeling in Rey that made her chest swell painfully.

If things had been different, was this how their life could've been?

Stirring the sand with their movements, despite the fact that Rey didn't miss a step, her moves became less certain, less confidant.

It was impossible to ignore the sudden shift in her mood – the dip from sunrise orange to midnight blue in her aura heartbreaking and plain for Ben to see.

He threw her around as if she was light as a feather, spinning her around his shoulders and sliding her between his legs, pulling her to her feet and tight against him just as they'd practiced.

Except this time, he planted a swift kiss against her lips, a flash of concern in his torch-lit, soft, hazel eyes she so adored.

She didn't have to be bonded to him to understand his meaning – the desire to reassure and comfort, to ease her worries and support her was all palpable.

She sent a soft, uncertain smile his way, a reassurance she was okay.

As they spun about in the sand, Rey decided what could have been mattered little – what mattered was that they were together now.

 _This_ was their opportunity to be two ordinary kids in love, to savor their happiness and have a bit of unapologetic fun.

In that, at least, despite his perpetual bachelor status, Luke was wise and absolutely right.

Rey's smile returned to her slowly but surely, until finally her essence exploded with sunlight, a burst of confidence.

Her movements became sharper and sexier than ever, her grin putting Ben at ease that she was alright.

Their movements kicked up the sand, glittering in the firelight, the torch-lights making their eyes and smiles practically glow, and several kick-turns, shimmies, and tricky, asymmetrical lifts later, Ben brought her against his hip, balancing her weight against his in a reverse-dip, the dance coming to a close.

The ballroom manifested again, their finery returning to them.

Ben attempted to blow a messy lock of hair out of his face unsuccessfully as he set her back on her feet, making Rey giggle and forget for a moment they were supposed to be serious.

He brushed back the petulant strand with a smile.

“Tell me, how many arrangements are left in the set, Mr. Solo?” Rey asked, reflecting his smile back at him.

“Just the one, Ms. Skywalker, if you'll indulge me one last time this evening.” he said, eyes taking on a mischievous, warm glint that intrigued her.

“Very well, if you insist.”

Ben turned on the crystal sonograph one last time, and a gentle string melody, crystalline and pure rose from the corner and surrounded them – the elegant waltz reverberating off the marble surfaces of the room.

He pulled her close into their sturdy waltz posture, and slowly turned them across the floor, unhurried and measured, steady and sure.

After her weeks of lessons, it had become clear to Rey just how easy the Coruscantian waltz was compared to the other choreographed dances, not to mention slow. But it was a pleasant routine to end the night with, and gave her ample opportunity to stare into Ben's eyes and enjoy the tender moment.

A gentle turn under his arm here, a step that lead them in a wide turn there, all felt like a familiar, loving embrace to her now.

The choice of music, despite not being the normal grandiose, major waltz, was still sweeping and filled with longing, if a little sad to Rey's ears.

They gradually began their series of turning, spinning steps, still in the waltz' three-count, the sequence of the dance that Rey had called “the orbit.”

Her feet skimmed lightly over the marble floor and she lost herself to the momentum as she entered a state of constant movement, feet barely touching the floor.

His hand was a steady, warm presence against her waist, her arm no longer feeling uncomfortably stretched as it rested atop his broad shoulder, the gentle pressure of her hand a comforting weight to him too.

She found herself swimming in his adoring hazel eyes, her heart full to brim with a feeling of belonging and safety.

Catching the sweet look in her gaze, Ben gave her right hand clutched in his own a gentle squeeze – as if to say _I feel it too_.

They moved in perfect unison, trusting partners at last.

Their essences were alight with flickers and pinpricks, stardust and sparks. Perhaps it was just the flow of the music or the tandem of their movements, but they'd be hard pressed in the moment to think of a time when they had felt closer.

There was a sense of propriety, of harmony – of things finally coming to rest, of sundered things made whole, of a river at last reaching the sea.

Rey skirts swirling as she turned about him in the widest spin of the routine, only to practically crash back into his loving embrace as the music swelled and her heart soared.

Their steady waltz step lifted them clean off the floor as Rey found she couldn't look anywhere but into his eyes, pulse thrumming with a wondrous kind of certainty she'd never known.

They floated up above the flickering sconces, the chandelier's lights twinkling like stars just above their heads as they whirled and spun among the nebulous violet and midnight blue.

Even when he lead her through spins under his arm, out of the security of his hold, she had every faith she wouldn't fall – though Rey wasn't lucid enough to tell which of them was using the Force, her or Ben.

And the smile he was looking at her with, like there was nothing more precious in all the galaxy...it was not unlike the first smile he'd given her on Exegol, but without any of the desperation of survival, only the joy of being together.

He pulled her close against his chest, and she could feel his racing heart, her arms looping around his neck as they spun faster and faster, the room becoming a blur of starlight.

She buried her face in the crook of his neck and she was swept up in the euphoria of it all.

After a long moment, they parted and turned side-by-side, keeping their eyes on one another as they held each other's arms and lead one another through a promenade step.

Turning back into each other's arms, they finished the routine with a few wide, sweeping steps, finally drawing close and twirling slowly, drifting back down to the floor.

The music as they touched back down on earth returned to the gentle plucking of the string instrument alone, a full, rich orchestra no longer.

Rey had no words to describe her feelings, how grateful she was for the wonderful evening, how full her heart felt.

She had little other option than to stretch up and softly kiss him, trying to warmly breathe all she didn't know how to say into his body, caressing his lips with all her love.

And despite his heart in his throat, when they parted, Ben still managed to breathe out his confession, however shaky it sounded to his ears.

“I love you, Rey.”

Her aura was like solar flare, setting fire to him with her joy.

“I love you too, Ben.” she breathed, ecstatic, hands reaching up to clasp his jaw as she kissed him again arduously, their dyad like a live-wire, blinding and brilliant to behold.

The night clearly at an end, they didn't need to say a word to one another to know what it was they wanted most.

They drifted back upstairs, trading kisses the whole way, breathing secondary to their need to stay connected, to keep pouring their love into each other.

Ben didn't even bother to go down the hall to collect his sleeping clothes – he used the Force to call his navy blue pajamas to him. They only parted long enough for Rey to disappear behind her closest door and shuck off the ballgown and jewels, tugging on a white sleeping shift.

When she stepped back outside, Ben was already changed, his suit draped against the chair that sat by her bureau.

She all but fell into his arms and they collapsed upon the bed, tugging at each other's lips, longing and tender as if they hadn't seen each other in months.

Their mouths quickly became red and swollen with pliant exertion, but that did little to slow their efforts.

The tempo of their kisses only slowed and grew a bit sloppier and sweeter when exhaustion began to descend over both of them – the siren-song of sleep the only thing that could still the flow of their passion.

Rey buried her nose in his raven hair and Ben nuzzled against her cheek, flush against each other as they nodded off.

It was clear as anything to Rey Skywalker that she had never loved another man as much as Ben Solo, and she cared not a bit to even vaguely entertain the possibility that there might be another she could love more.

* * * * *

The Master of the Knights of Ren woke up screaming bloody murder.

The pain in his chest was unimaginable – worse than being accidentally run-through by Vicrul's cruel, twisted scythe, worse than having lava fresh from the rivers of Mustafar poured over him, worse still than the agony of being born.

Vicrul was in his room in a second, light from the hallway stabbing into the room as the door flew open.

“Master! What has happened?!” his static-ridden, modulated voice cried under his phalanx mask, a shadow of his Master's agony his own to feel – one of the great burdens of his undying loyalty.

His Master shot into a seated position, heaving – holding up a dissuading hand to his second-in-command as he made a move to approach him, to see to any necessary medical care.

No one touched him, not even if he was dying, which he was most certainly not.

He merely needed to clear his head.

The Force had reached out to him in his sleep, the light he had been praying for had found him, even as he was subconscious.

This light had been so strong, so vivid, had such glass-like clarity and pin-point accuracy that it had been like a searing, physical wound to him.

Such was the effect of love on all those who knew only darkness and the cruel mistress of pain.

“Vicrul,” he growled, voice like crunching gravel with effort of speaking “set a course for Naboo.”

His lieutenant snapped to attention, a palpable thrill coursing through him, a flicker of victory.

His Master's fangs flashed, egged on by his apprentice's enthusiasm, appetite whet.

“ _I've found them._ ”


	16. XV.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Ben work together to attempt to puzzle out the riddle on the box.
> 
> Rey explores her feelings for Ben in an attempt to be more honest with herself.
> 
> Ben reveals his choice for a new role model for himself.

XV.

Rey Skywalker was used to waking up abruptly.

On Jakku, there had always been some urgent need to attend to – precious dew that had come up from the sands at night that she needed to collect from the tarpaulin she kept just outside her domicile before it evaporated, beating the sand out of her sand-bike that always clogged the vents during the night, racing to the nearest wreck before the sun grew too high in the sky and the guts of the Star Destroyers turned into ovens.

Even with the war, the habit hadn't left her.

Now, however, she was getting into a habit of deep sleep, stirring slowly in the mornings – now warm and dreamy, pleasant times when before they'd been harsh snaps back into frigid reality.

More so, she was no longer jumping with surprise when she became aware of the protective, muscular arms around her. Even her slow, waking mind knew whom those belonged to, and the sensation of Ben's cocoon always brought the day's first smile to her face.

He was resting just a breath apart from her when she opened her eyes, dark locks falling starkly and in an untidy mass on the pillow and curling against his high cheek-bones. She resisted the urge to fuss with the strands – he was sleeping so peacefully and deeply that she didn't want to wake him yet.

Ben Solo didn't snore, but his breathing was so deep and full it carried a peculiar rattling – a vibrato not unlike his speaking voice.

She bit her lip to still the tremors in her diaphragm at how cute he looked – lips slightly parted and pouty, and not a care in the world.

How she loved him...

Rey's aura instantly sparked, and she ducked her head, blushing into her pillow.

That was right, he'd said he'd loved her last night after the most magical evening she'd ever had with another person.

She wrinkled her nose as she realized.

It had all been an excuse, hadn't it? The supposed “final exam” for her etiquette lessons? It had just been a ploy to see her in a ballgown and sweep her off her feet.

...But she couldn't very well bring herself to be mad, or annoyed. The whole gesture was needlessly extravagant, terribly sweet and just so _Ben_...

A low hum that reverberated up from his chest broke her out of her reverie.

She puzzled as his brow furrowed in his sleep.

How to properly thank him for such a wonderful evening?

She'd been too love-struck last night to attempt to speak, but she had no doubt she could find the right words this morning.

...And now he was starting to twitch, his arms convulsing as his eyes rolled underneath his eyelids. Her heart went out to him in an instant.

Was he having a nightmare?

She couldn't detect any panic or sadness in his essence – confusion maybe, but nothing too serious.

Rey decided there was nothing to do but wake him...

...And maybe thank him, all at once?

She closed the minuscule gap between them and molded her lips against his, soft little caresses so as not to spook him. She resisted the urge to grin as she rubbed her nose against his – it threw off the rhythm of her playful pecks. But she couldn't help the slight smile she pressed against his mouth.

Ben's breathing grew irregular and she felt him stir, just a slight shift in her arms, a firmer press of his palms against her back. Her arms that had been trapped against his chest reached up and she let her thumbs idly trace the line of his jaw.

A tug at her bottom lip, closer to a playful nip and she knew he was awake.

She opened her mouth and invited him in, losing herself to the warmth of his breath and slick caress of his tongue – if just to distract herself from his morning breath (not that she thought she tasted much better at this hour).

The pleased hum in Ben's throat turned into a warm chuckle and she pressed herself tight against him, their legs tangling together.

Rey pulled away with a wet pop and gazed lovingly into his eyes.

“I could get used to waking up like that,” he murmured, trying to steal another kiss from her, Rey compulsively giggling in her throat.

She had to blurt out her next words between his insistent, luscious kisses.

“Well I had to thank you – somehow – for the – amazing time – I had – last night.” Rey said, making him grin boyishly. “Plus, you seemed like you were having a bad dream...”

Ben's brow furrowed.

“If I was, I've already forgotten it.” His expression softened. “And you're most welcome, sun-rey. It was truly my pleasure.”

A sudden thought hit Rey like an electric shock and made her breathing stutter.

“Did you do all that just to tell me you love me?”

He tensed...and let out a slow sigh.

“...You could feel it couldn't you?”

She shook her head.

“Not through the dyad, it just seemed that way – like the whole evening led up to you telling me.”

He flushed, thoroughly embarrassed.

“Yes, that was how I planned it.”

She chuckle was one part disbelief, one part wonder.

“Ben...you realize know one's ever done anything like that for me? Do – do you have any idea how you made me feel?”

“A little,” he murmured, idly running his fingers through her smooth hair “but only because of our bond.”

She grasped his hand tight – making his eyes snap to her, her urgency clear.

“You made me feel loved – cherished – _complete_. I -” she chuckled, half-mad with euphoria “Ben Solo, I _adore_ you!” she exclaimed, lips crashing against his.

His exclamation of surprise lodged in his throat as she flipped them over with her enthusiasm, chest-to-chest, kissing him deeply and sending him diving head-first into his desire for her again.

_And I adore_ you _Rey,_ he said in her mind as he held tight against him, one hand pressed to the small of her back, the other becoming buried in her hair.

His aura crackled, delirious in its passion, as he funneled all his well-kept secret thoughts into her.

_I want to experience_ everything _with you – I never want to leave your side. I think you're the most beautiful creature I've ever laid eyes on. I don't think I'm ever going to stop loving you..._

_Always so melodramatic_ , she giggled trying to ease the tension with a bit of humor, because she didn't know what else to do with the way he was devouring her mouth and the heat starting to gather in her stomach.

He drew her in deeper with another low, vibrating hum, more akin to a growl.

_I'm being serious, Rey! I love you! You're so wonderful and sweet and perfect and I –_

_Force, Rey,_ _**I want you** _ _._

It was like being hit over the head by her quarterstaff – but without the headache and the pain.

No, there was only pleasure to be found here, but his desire for her was so acute it made her gasp out loud.

She pulled away from his needy lips and instantly regretted it. More than the instant disappointment and apologetic look in his eyes, her own body recoiled from the rejection.

She wanted nothing more than to fall back into his embrace, keep kissing him until her lips were sore, bury herself within him, trust him completely. She wanted to...to...

...Oh stars, she wanted him too.

The realization made tremors course through her arms, her heart hammer against her chest, and her tongue go limp in her mouth.

It had only been two days and somehow his invitation seemed perfectly wonderful and welcoming and somehow just _right_ now. Not that her anxiety about trusting him physically had faded – it was still there, a background noise, an undercurrent.

But it paled in comparison to the immense feeling of love, of safety – that she wanted to trust him that completely because she knew she could.

From her life as a scavenger and shrewd saleswoman, she was used to cynical skepticism – comfortable with it.

The desire to trust was conversely very strange and unfamiliar and scary.

She took a deep steady breath.

She would give it a few more days, just to make absolutely certain. She didn't want to rush into things just because he'd made her feel so special.

All the same, his reassuring smile was painful to look at.

It was one thing to know he deeply respected her and would wait for her, for any length of time. But when she was starting to feel the self-same pull to him, making him wait felt somehow dishonest.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to rush things. I promised you we'd take it slow and we will. I won't push you into anything you don't want to do.” he swallowed roughly and clumsily clambered out of bed.

All the same, she made up her mind in a snap decision – even if they didn't act on the full extent of her feelings immediately, she shouldn't hide them from him completely.

She released her desirous thoughts from the prison of her guarded mind and let them fly across their bond.

It was like an arrow piercing him through the chest; her want for him was razor-thin and precise and so overwhelmingly sweet and heady it made him gasp and lose his footing for a moment.

He turned to look at her, wonder in his eyes.

She traced her fingers on the bedding, vaguely feeling the patterns of lines in the rippling sheets.

“ _What is it that I want then?_ ” Rey mused, mind strangely calm compared to her racing heart. To keep kissing him, certainly. To hold him, definitely.

But she wanted something more and couldn't quite place it.

To be caressed, she supposed.

Would it be weird to ask for just that?

She unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth.

“You aren't in a rush to eat breakfast are you?” she asked. Ben vaguely shook his head, visibly trying to catch his breath “Because if not...I'd like to try something with you...”

His weakness to the dark side was nothing compared to how susceptible he was to her sweet hesitance.

“Meaning?” he said, not caring that his voice wavered. She held out her arms to him, beckoning.

“Come here,” she said, her heart growing more certain even as her pulse fluttered. He wandered back and sat on the edge of the bed, legs folded under him, taking her hands.

She bit her lip before the plunge.

In one movement, she shifted into his lap, placed his hands at her waist, and wrapped her arms around his neck. His face flared scarlet.

“There's nothing to be ashamed of, Ben.” she murmured, smiling sweetly.

All the same, her eyebrows shot up at the sensation of something firm twitching beneath her.

Ben compulsively cleared his throat.

“...Sorry.”

“You don't have to keep apologizing – it's only natural.” she said, turning pink herself.

He shed a grimacing smile.

“Maybe I wouldn't be so over eager if I'd had more than one partner.” She chuckled, the tension lifting a bit from the both of them.

“Maybe.” She took a little breath, for courage.

“I want you to touch me.” she requested, as plainly as she could. His Adam's apple bobbed in his throat as he stared her, bewildered.

It was obvious she needed to clarify more.

“Meaning, leave my clothes alone, but kiss me, and – run your hands all over me. I want to get more accustomed to the feeling.”

His chuckle was compulsive, a reflex – he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

“ _All_ over you?” he asked clarifying, voice high in his throat.

“Yes, anywhere.” she murmured, already leaning in for a kiss.

The caress of her lips was warm and chaste, but it didn't stay that way for long. His hands refused to budge from where she'd laid them, so she deepened the kiss, aiming to confirm to him that yes, she wanted this. His breath caught as her tongue plunged into his mouth, and then his hands slowly began to wander.

They traced paths down her sides, like slow rivers rippling over her hips and down her thighs, only to change course and drift back up again, leaving pleasant tingles and shivers in the wake of his gentle fingers. A languid hum of satisfaction left Rey's throat of its own volition as Ben began teasing at her lips, pulling and tugging, kneading them softly in a gentle ebb and flow that she was finding intoxicating.

His hand lingered on its next pass on the curve of her backside, massaging experimentally and making her jump, but he quickly moved on, chuckling low in his throat. His hands drifted up and cupped her breasts, making her catch her breath for a moment and almost miss his mouth with the next kiss.

But his touch was gentle here too, venerating even, his thumbs caressing her soft mounds, palming their weight warmly, sending a vague sliver of pleasure down to her core. Then his hands drifted up and entangled themselves in her hair, scratching her scalp, kissing her with a heated fervor that sent an arrow of heat straight down and made her compulsively squeeze her thighs tightly together.

The little, musical noise that escaped her throat made his skin catch fire.

“ _Rey_ ,” he breathed, with just the tiniest roll of a growl in his voice. His hands stroked down her sides again and rested on her thighs, massaging insistently there in a way that sent shivers up her spine and made her convulse with their strength.

His fingers gently brushed by her sacred little mound, however much of it he could reach with her thighs locked together, and her pulse galloped away with her, her instinctual panic blinding.

He stilled and pulled away, grazing her lips – the look in his dark eyes unnerved and uncomfortable where before they'd been beautifully hooded with his lust.

“Rey?” he mumbled, clearly terrified he'd gone too far.

But she merely shook her head and pressed one last searing kiss against his mouth and rested her hands atop his.

“I think that's enough for now,” she murmured, quite out of breath. His relief was like needle-full of pain killers – instantly calming.

“Okay, Rey,” Ben answered, panting too.

She smiled at him bashfully.

“I really did like that...”

He leaned down and nuzzled her cheek affectionately.

“I did too.”

And though she could feel the needy thrum of his primal desires across their bond, she could feel the joy at her trust in him running parallel to it, far stronger than the heat beneath her.

* * * * *

After breakfast, Rey decided to take up Ben on the advice he'd given her during training – using meditation to objectively examine her emotions regularly. Though he'd been dreadful at it as an out-of-control Sith, he did argue that it was helping him see himself plainly these days and live in the balance.

Rey decided to take up a spot in the ballroom for the occasion, throwing open the windows and letting the fresh summer breeze into the room to help ground her physically with the circulation of air.

Sitting down cross-legged, she shut her eyes and took deep, steadying breaths.

The calm, slow state she progressively entered was pushing her towards connecting with the energy of the Force, but she decided not to enter the light-realm for the moment.

She wanted to simply be in her own head for a change.

Still, she felt life's energy quite palpably in the whipping breeze that was making the fly-away hairs in her loose buns flutter.

Rey took one last deep breath and looked inward, searching her heart for what she could find there. How was she feeling today?

Her chest warmed compulsively and the corners of her mouth lifted.

Loved, of course.

It was more difficult to ignore such a prominent emotion these days than it was to acknowledge it. No great mystery there. What else?

A little flare of anger. Still, at her lineage, the blood in her veins.

But no, she wasn't going to be like the grandfather she abhorred. She was going to be true to herself, her values, the name she chose.

Her anger cooled, if just a little.

Searching deeper, there was annoyance, frustration.

At the trial, she concluded, at the Galactic Senate. If the Rebel council had had their way, Ben would already be a free man.

She fought back the angry feelings with her optimism.

It would all work out – she had faith.

They would get that silly box from the library open and surely find their solution, it was only a matter of time.

Was there anything else?

Rey hummed to herself in thought, drifting in and out of the Force, uncertain.

No – that seemed about it. She was living quite the charmed life in exile, even if Ben could be a bit anal about the state of the kitchen at times – particularly when it came to dealing with greasy dishes (mostly her doing, as she used a bit too much oil in the pan at times, too weary to let anything stick and burn on accident).

But she laughed that off easily.

And she could be rather stubborn about the state of his forceful, heavy footwork while they sparred, a daily activity.

They were evenly matched like that.

She beamed as she let her mind stray to thoughts of him. When they spent every moment together, there was seldom any time for reflection on her own feelings.

She was positively infatuated with the way his mouth would twitch when he was deep in thought, completely enamored with the doting eyes he made at her over meals and over the lip of his tea mug – every time, without fail.

Shivers shot up her arms as her thoughts turned indulgent.

She could swim in those warm, honey-tinged eyes of his, bury herself in his arms for hours on end, spar with him gladly until her arms fell off, because every kinetic trade of blows and blocks felt like their own personal, wonderful dance.

And, she didn't mind those samples of his strength, or seeing him shirtless either.

Warm tingles shimmered up to her shoulders in a longing cascade that made her breath hitch.

Why did he even bother wearing a shirt? He looked infinitely better without one – all muscular and raw, intermittently dangerous and fierce and secure and protective.

And there it was again, that delicious lick of heat down in her stomach that made her heart pick up a frantic tempo.

Rey groaned and buried her face in her hands.

Why was she like this?

Why couldn't she just fantasize about the intoxicating way his lips completely enveloped hers when he warmly kissed her or about the way he held her close each and every night while they whispered sweet nothings to each other and nodded off, without freaking out?

It was perfectly natural to feel this way about the man she loved.

Why was she recoiling when she was with him, when apart from him she was practically swimming in her longing passions?

She needed help, but hadn't a clue where to begin when it came to such sensitive matters.

_You seem to be a bit distressed, my dear._

Rey's “face” turned scarlet. Oh no...not now...

She opened her luminescent, moonlit eyes to the sunlight and stardust of the Force, and a sea-foam colored Leia Organa shimmering just feet from her.

She fidgeted with the cream cuffs of the low-cut top she'd chosen to wear that day.

_Just...trying to pick apart some frustrations, Master, and examine them from a more objective point of view,_ she muttered, face still flushed with heat.

Leia smiled maternally and slowly eased herself down to the floor, sitting leisurely across from her.

_Perhaps another perspective might offer some assistance. Tell me, what's on your mind?_ she asked.

Rey bit her lip and shed a guilty smile.

_Forgive me, Master, but I'm not sure that you're the person I really want to talk to...about this...exactly..._

Leia looked her dead in the face, sarcastic smirk on full display.

_Rey, who better than to talk to about my son than his own mother?_

Rey groaned.

Dammit, of course she knew. She ran her palms down her sweaty face.

_Not about this, Master._

_Rey Skywalker, need I remind you I am deceased and no longer your master? You can call me Leia – if things were slightly different, I imagine I'd be your mother-in-law in short order anyway-_

Rey reached her breaking point – the point where all her filters fell away and she stopped giving a damn.

_General Organa, I'd really rather not talk about wanting to and fearing laying with your son if it's all the same to you!_

Rey cringed horribly the moment the words left her mouth.

She knew Ben would never forgive her for the thought, but at this moment, she wished she _had_ died on Exegol.

_Now we're getting somewhere,_ Leia mused, not even looking scandalized at Rey's bluntness. Rey shook her head, bewildered.

_How can you be so calm about this?_ she squawked, hands gesticulating wildly.

_You're two young, amorous people in love, was I supposed to assume that things would turn out otherwise?_

Rey hugged her elbows.

_I guess not. But still...this is your baby boy we're talking about._

Leia nodded wearily.

_Yes, I'm aware of that too. But the fact that you're here with your concerns at all, that you're taking these matters seriously and considering both your, and his, happiness – well, that's all a mother can really hope for._

Leia laughed, a little run-down.

_At any rate, I don't want to hear the juicy details any more than you want to tell them. Just tell me the bare bones so that I can understand the situation._

Rey found her hot face starting to cool with these words. She took a deep breath and tried to think of a place to begin.

She was already laughing at herself before she could get the words out.

_I really like kissing him!_ she said, fully chortling between sentences, making Leia smile.

_I love holding him and cuddling with him and just sitting and meditating and doing nothing with him, too. I like being close to him – I really do and...I think I'm ready to take the next step – to fully trust him, with...everything. But every time things get a little more – heated, shall we say, my heart won't stop racing fearfully and I have to cut things off._

The smile Leia gave her was sympathetic, and a little sad.

_It's only natural after the life you've lead that you have difficulty trusting people,_ she murmured.

Rey sat up, affronted.

_But I_ want _to trust him! Force, I_ do _trust him – with my life!_

_But it's another thing entirely to trust a man with your body, to give entry to the most private parts of yourself._

Rey stewed in her embarrassment, her twinge of shame. Leia was speaking all her feelings out loud that she hadn't been able to place herself.

She felt she should've known.

_Don't be so hard on yourself, Rey. If everyone understood all their emotions at any given time, the galaxy would be perfect. And there is nothing wrong with feeling anxious about this – it is completely_ natural _and_ normal _._

It felt like a rock the size of Starkiller was lifted off her chest in that moment.

_It is?_ Rey breathed.

_Take it from someone who knows,_ Leia said, sagely.

_But, take comfort in this Rey, Ben loves you._

Rey's smile was automatic, as instinctual as breathing

_He's willing to listen to what you want and what you need – and men like that are rarer than is right,_ Leia griped and Rey shed an uncomfortable smile.

Why did she feel like there was a story about Han behind that comment, if not several?

_Be as clear with him as you're able, be direct – even if it's embarrassing._ Rey snorted and blushed again, her thoughts straying back to that morning. Leia smiled and continued.

_T_ _ell him what it is you need and he'll do what he can._ Leia concluded with a smile.

_You have nothing to fear, my dear. By all means, go at your own pace, and trust him to take care of you._

Rey's heart swelled with gratitude.

She couldn't have imagined a conversation like this going so well with Leia. But the late General was no run-of-the-mill Princess, after all.

_Thank you, Leia,_ she said, smiling, even if the name sounded a little strange on her lips.

_Good luck to you both,_ she said, and faded back into the light.

Rey landed back on the ballroom floor and uncrossed her legs, standing and locking onto Ben's signature in the Force, heading up to the library.

* * * * *

When she found him, he was lying on the floor on his back, a holo of Mace Windu's accounts of the Clone Wars playing in the background as he repeatedly tossed up the onyx box, only to catch it in his palm as it fell back down.

He smiled when he caught sight of her.

“You seem to be a bit happier.” he murmured. She planted a little peck against his temple as she sat herself on the floor next to him.

“You're mother is shockingly good at giving advice.” His cheeks flared crimson as his cube tossing stilled.

“Oh Force, what did she say?” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. She simpered.

“Don't worry about it – I'll tell you later. What have you been watching?”

He sputtered his lips, sitting up and pausing the play-back of the holo with a tap of the neon blue, holographic controls.

“Nothing in particular. For all the lost history in this room, it's all very one-sided and bit preachy.” Rey threw up her eyebrows.

“Too much light side?”

“Definitely. Basically, all the hallowed history that says nothing about mind control, or emotional manipulation, or targeted padawans...or anything that could help my case...” he murmured, frustration flaring sunset-red in his Force.

She rubbed reassurance into his tense shoulder.

“We'll find what we're looking for, I'm sure of it.”

His smile softened and he turned his head to graze her knuckles with a nuzzling kiss.

“Where would I be without your optimism, starlight?” Her eyes went wide.

“That's a not universe I want to explore in the slightest, Ben Solo!” she exclaimed, prompting a guilty smile from him – as flashes of his previous identity crossed from her mind into his.

“Sorry Rey!” he said, chuckling in a low tremor. She gave him a sarcastic glare, but no amount of faux anger could hold back her radiant smile.

“At any rate, we've already found what we're looking for.” he said, tossing the box in his hand again and re-reading the clue for the dozenth time.

“ _To protect the secrets therein / And prevent them falling to darkest kin,_ ”

“To shield the secrets from the dark side and any of its followers,” Rey translated.

“ _Only one who walks in both / Can pick apart what her Highness wrote._ ”

“Only someone who follows not the teaching of the dark side, or the light, but both, can understand the secrets Padmé left in the box.” she continued.

Ben tossed the box from hand to hand and let out a frustrated growl that made Rey's stomach flip for all the wrong reasons.

“Of course, but we already figured either of us would do. But the last line about actually opening the kriffing thing is the only one that throws me off –  _By blood of noble bearing shed / And light freely given unlock the lid_ .”

“It doesn't mean we have to kill someone royal does it?!” Rey said, panic creeping into her voice. But Ben was already shaking his head.

“I seriously doubt my grandmother would do something like that, based on what I've been told about her. It would be far too dark and cruel a security measure. But you might be onto something – the box might need a small sacrifice.” he said, brow unfurrowing as clarity came to him.

“A drop of royal blood, not unlike a bio-scan.”

“Do we know any royalty?” Rey mused.

It took a moment, but when it hit, the realization in Ben's eyes nailed Rey like a misfire from a blaster.

“Ben, no!! Absolutely not!!”

“Rey, it would only be a drop, a tiny prick-” he said, already trying to cool her fire. But she wouldn't hear it.

“Ben, at most, you're  _one quarter_ royal! You can't seriously be saying that's enough to count!” 

“ _Rey_ .”

The firmness of his tone was enough to give her pause.

“Is this really about being wasteful – or do you just not want to see me hurt, even for a brief moment?”

Rey felt like he'd pierced her clean through with his saber – at least, the feeling would similar if lightsaber's blades were made with folded sheets of ice.

“You say that like its a bad thing...” she murmured, staring at the floor. He placed a finger under her chin and lifted her head.

“Believe me, my kyber, I understand completely.” he said, his thumb against her cheek rubbing with such tender sweetness that she blushed, even if the motion was completely familiar to her now.

“It's just difficult to grow used to the discomfort. It's hard to try to make peace with this idea that accidents will happen and we're going to bleed and bruise and be hurt – even if we end up living totally ordinary, unexceptional lives.” she said, Ben chuckling at the insinuation, finding the idea just as absurd as she, even if it was a nice thought.

“I share in all the pain you feel, Ben. If I had any say, you'd be invulnerable and nothing would ever hurt you again.” she murmured, the flood of honest words difficult to stop when she got started.

He kissed her, warm and full, sending chills racing down her spine.

“That's why I'm always willing to heal you with the Force – it's the closest thing I can actually do to that.” he said, smiling, if a little sadly. He took her hands firmly in his.

“Life will come our way – we have no control over that. But we can always look out for each other, heal one another when the other is hurt, lean on each other when we need it. We're far from invulnerable, but together we can lessen the pains.”

Rey gripped his hands tight.

“You're right, I'll try my best to keep that in mind.”

She chuckled at herself, somehow “Forgive me, I'm just too used to worrying about you.” Another sweet peck of her lips.

“As am I.”

Rey let out a small sigh and dropped his hands. She pulled her multi-tool from her pocket and ejected a small, exact blade – clean and sharp.

“At least let me make the cut?” she asked, holding out her hand to him.

“Okay,” he said, with a reserved huff of breath, resting the fingers of his left hand in her palm.

“Which finger?”

“It'll sting regardless,” he sighed. “Ring finger,” he decided with a flippant shrug.

The incision was tiny and Rey's motion quick and precise. Ben still sucked in a breath at the tiny twinge of pain. She turned his hand palm down and squeezed the pad of his finger just enough to ease a drop from the wound onto the box on the floor.

The moment the splash of red rusted the gold runes, Rey wrapped his fingers in her and healed the cut through their bond – it barely required any effort on her part.

They watched the box with bated breath, and let out little puff of breath laughs when the blood seeped into the runes and they saw the clue about royal blood disappear from the box entirely.

“It worked.” Ben said, elated.

“Now we just have to figure out what  _light freely given_ means and we'll finally have what's inside.” she said, smiling and wiping the blade clean and tucking the multi-tool away.

Ben shed a grin of recollection.

“You know, I did manage to find something rather interesting in the files the other day.” he said, calling a data disk from the middle of the teetering pile next to him with ease, the tower settling itself back into a state of balance.

“Do tell, my hearth,” said Rey, smiling as bookworm Ben revealed himself again, if just for a moment.

He ejected Master Windu's data card from the holo-projector and popped in the smaller, flatter disk.

The projector's fan whirred to life as the blue projection flashed on, showing footage, to Rey's surprise, of the downstairs thrown room.

“What is this?” Rey murmured, curiosity peaked.

“Just watch,” Ben grinned, sidling up next to her.

A large crowd of people, opulently and officially dressed, were all gathered around the central throne, a processional aisle splitting the group in two.

Up the velvet-lined path walked a woman, a bit on the short side, approaching the velvet and marble throne, flanked by six women, all about her height and dressed in long, identical robes.

The woman turned to face them, revealing the dramatic makeup she wore, emphasizing her cheekbones, eyes, and lips in stark detail against the smooth skin of her face.

The dramatic look suited the tall, heaped, elaborate hair style and layered, red velvet gown, fit for a queen.

She couldn't have been older than fourteen.

An officiant dressed in dark robes and with coiffed silver hair stood to her right, and held up a holo-pad in his hands, reading aloud from the doctrine written therein.

“ _Upon assuming the throne, the newly elected Queen of Naboo, Padmé Naberrie, will select a new name for herself. This rechristening is a symbolic ceremony, intended to allow her highness to begin life anew – assuming responsibility for our corner of the Republic in a new identity she chooses for herself. Your Highness?_ ”

The fourteen-year old held her head high, eyes flashing with a severity and a humble purpose that showed wisdom far beyond her years.

“ _Henceforth, I shall be known Padmé Amidala, a name I assume to honor the first senator from my home world._ ”

“ _Do you swear to govern the people of this planet with justice, honor, and compassion?_ ” the officiant asked, beginning the exchange of binding vows.

“ _I do so swear._ ” she answered, in an unnaturally deepened voice she was likely putting on to seem older.

“ _Do you swear to exercise your power wisely and act as a servant of the people?_ ”

“ _I do so swear._ ”

“ _And do you swear to be a representative of your home-world on the Galactic stage, speaking for our people?_ ”

“ _I do so swear._ ” she said, one final time, staring down the assembled members of the government and nobility.

The officiant turned to face the crowd with a dramatic sweep of his arms.

“ _By the power vested in me by the people of this great planet, I hereby dub thee Queen Amidala of Naboo!_ ”

The room erupted into cheers and applause, and the young queen shed a toothy grin that revealed her bashfulness, and a bit of her age, if just for a moment before she found her composure again and she exchanged bows with the crowd.

Ben stretched forward and muted the holo as the crowd started to mill and came up to greet their new queen.

“I've been giving some thought to the course of my future.” he began, a little hesitantly, staring resolutely at the recording.

“Not just brutally serious thought, I hope?” Rey teased, wrestling a grin out of him with ease.

“For so much of my life, I was trying to take after someone. First mom, then Luke, and then...” he hesitated a bit, brow scrunching together “Then Darth Vader...”

“And certainly, I could try just – foregoing guides entirely – living by my own devices.” he said, flippantly.

Rey smiled encouragingly.

“That's how I've made it this far.” she said.

He flashed her a brilliant, vampiric smile.

“Yes, but not all of us can be as proficient at it as you, scavenger.” he said, playfully poking her in the ribs. She stuck her tongue out at him.

“You have it in you, smuggler!”

“My point being,” he continued, chuckling adorably “I'm no good at going forward without a sense of direction, a goal, a – shadow of a plan,” he said, with a boyish shrug of his shoulders “I'm too used to having a mentor of sorts.”

He nodded in the direction of the recording.

“I think its time I strove after the ideals of my other grandparent. I mean, servant of the people? Notoriously compassionate and wise? But still human enough to seek love – to want to start a family...I think I'd be hard pressed to find a more balanced example to strive for.”

Rey's heart warmed beautifully, like sunrise over the lake out back.

“I think that's a wonderful idea.”

He sent a smile her way and fidgeted on the spot, fussing with his boot.

“Though I'll miss this place once the month is up, it'll be nice to get this ankle bracelet off – it's such a pain to put on socks in the morning.” he said, shoving his hand inside to fix the stiff positioning of the tracker.

Rey started.

“Stars, you're right – the month's nearly up. Where did all the time go?” She saddened, her aura taking on a cloudy-blue hue. “And we didn't figure out the career you'd be brilliant at.”

“There's still a bit of time.” Ben said, injecting a rare moment of hope into the situation.

Then he sighed and promptly took it back.

“But let's face it, Rey, my options are pretty limited. Based on my existing skill-set, my options are pilot, chef, or-”

“Jedi?”

His shoulders scrunched up.

“I was going to say some kind of teacher, but you aren't far off.” Rey grinned.

“True – you would make an excellent dance coach or etiquette teacher.” Ben snorted and rolled his eyes.

Rey gasped.

“Or, you could hit the books again and be a stellar history professor!”

Ben eyebrows lifted at the idea.

“That's not a bad one, actually.” he said, intrigued.

“But Ben,” Rey began, knowing she would have to fight an uphill battle “you're meant to teach the next generation about the Force.”

He was already shaking his head.

“What am I supposed to teach them? How to shoot lightning out of their hands? How to – lose control of their emotions?!-”

“Ben, you and I know you're capable of teaching so much more than cautionary tales about the darkest parts of your life – you're brilliant, and more balanced then ever.”

“How many times do I have to tell you?!” he exclaimed, exasperation starting to peak “I don't trust myself!” 

“And I don't want to do this alone, Ben.”

Her declaration completely threw him through a loop. His eyes bored into hers, searching for meaning in her golden flecks.

“I only got one side of an education in the Force – you have the other. Together, they make a complete picture. Let's face it, for all I know, I don't know how to use my emotions as strength or to defend others, I got by mostly on luck when it came to mind tricks, and the lightning shooting out of my hand on Pasaana? Complete accident! 

"If we were to work together, we'd round each other out – fill in the gaps in each other's knowledge. We could teach that attachments are good if handled carefully and wisely. We could show the new generation a life of living honestly  _and_ intelligently – not wild emotion at the expense of care, or intelligence with the loss of feeling, but a true balance.”

“Ben, we have the potential to change everything if we work together...”

He couldn't help it.

He barked with laughter.

“Do you ever get the feeling, no matter how me begin, we just end up arguing about the same thing, over and over again?” Rey glowered at him, making him snicker.

“Ben, I'm being serious.”

He stilled the shuddering of his diaphragm, dwelling on her words.

“I'll think about it, Rey. But you have to understand, this all depends on my sentence. And I still only half trust myself, at best.”

She wrapped her arms around his wide shoulders.

“That's a very solid start.”

* * * * *

They whiled away the hours until evening with loving meditation and sweaty sparring – finally wandering downstairs for dinner after their separate showers.

“At least there's plenty of leftovers from last night,” Rey murmured, distracted, as she tried to tie up her hair into a semblance of order while she walked into the kitchen.

“True...” Ben muttered, thoroughly distracted by portioning out their meals and popping them in the re-heater.

When his attention was no longer split, he turned to face her and cocked his head.

“Why do you always insist on putting your hair up?” he asked, eyes twinkling with amusement.

She sputtered with baffled laughter.

“Because it's annoying to leave it loose and hanging? And when I'm eating a meal it always somehow gets in my face and refuses to leave?” she said, tugging her middle bun apart again on accident, huffing in frustration.

Ben sauntered closer to her and tugged the top bun out of the prison of her elastic band.

“What are you doing?” she said, plainly amused.

“Turn around,” he instructed gently, nudging her shoulders into action. She sighed and decided to let him fuss with her.

He was delicate enough that when he tied back the topmost layer of her hair in a ponytail the tug through the elastic only twinged her scalp a little.

“There. Now it won't fall forward _and_ it can stay loose.” She grinned as she turned to face him.

“Who would've thought I should have let you style my hair last night?” she said, stretching up to peck his lips, making him chuckle low in his chest.

Still, she missed the tight comfort of her three buns, and her fingers twitched to tie her hair back.

“I'm so used to my three buns though, this almost feels uncomfortable.” she grimaced, pouting her lips and making him snort.

He leaned down a gave a luxurious kiss that made her head spin.

“But you look so lovely with your hair down...” he murmured against her mouth, only pulling away when the re-heater beeped, signaling his food was ready.

One little compliment and she was blushing like a school girl experiencing her first crush.

What crazy ideas had Leia planted in her head?  
  


She shyly brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and met his doting eyes.

“Well...thank you. That's very sweet of you to say...”

“It also happens to be true.” he said, smiling as he removed their steaming plates from the re-heater.

A thought zipped across her mind, quicker than a sand mouse at full sprint.

“Would you mind if we ate outside?” she blurted out. Ben's eyebrows shot up into his tussled bangs.

“Like...a picnic?” he said, plainly amused by the idea but not resistant. She shrugged in such an elegant way that his heart instantly skipped a beat.

“Forgive me if I want to do something nice for you in turn after the magical time we had last night.”

How could he say no to that sweet smile?

“Alright, then.” he said, gathering up their plates in his arms as Rey collected the glasses, utensils, and an old, threadbare tablecloth from one of the drawers, and lead them outside.

She unrolled the tablecloth with a flourish by the grassy edge of the lake-shore, sending rocks zooming over from the water's edge to weigh down the four corners.

The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon, filling the vista with a warm glow that tinged the rest of the world in red and violet. They spread out their plates and made not-so-subtle eyes at each other while Ben filled their glasses from the water pitcher.

To Rey's delight, he'd thought of a rather perfect detail to complete the homey spread of soup in tiny bowls and warm, home-cooked food – a candelabra he lighted with a box of long matches.

“Now it's perfect,” Rey declared, tucking into their leftovers, Ben's chest swelling delightfully with warmth as the summer breeze played with her hair.

The meal was peaceful and quiet, and they ate quickly – they were both rather famished. The sun began to dip lower, the cool colors of evening washing over them.

Ben only raised his voice again when he'd swallowed the last bite of his masterpiece steak.

“So what embarrassing detail of her marriage did my mother share with you?” Rey nearly choked on her mouthful of water with laughter.

“She didn't even deign to tell me one embarrassing story!” she choked out between peals of laughter.

Ben gawked.

“I find that very hard to believe!”

“Seriously, she didn't push any personal stories on me – she just asked about what was bothering me and gave me advice!”

His aura flared navy with a flash of scarlet concern.

“Something's been bothering you?” he asked, hazel eyes softening instantly in the orange glow of the flames.

Rey delicately set down her glass on the uneven cloth, becoming absorbed in the wax dripping down the three, thin, columned candles.

“I've just been questioning...why I feel so scared about being intimate with you...” she said, quiet and hesitant, but vulnerable in her honesty. He swallowed roughly.

“I see.” he said, shoulders tensing a bit uncomfortably. Rey hurried on.

“But Leia helped me finally understand why. Certainly, one part of it has to do with having few connections to other people in my life as a scavenger – a healthy dose of skepticism and distance was necessary to survive. But the other part of it has nothing to do with you, Ben. It's just my own fear, my hesitance. I'm...I'm scared to...to be vulnerable...” she said, voice trembling with the truth, even as the hand she laid on top of his was firm and steady.

He stroked her fingers with such tender sweetness that Rey could almost feel her heart cracking open.

“But you don't have to be scared, Rey – not with me. You know me – better than anyone alive in the galaxy. You can trust me.” he said, looking straight into her eyes. She gently shook her head.

“I trust you completely, Ben. But...that doesn't mean I'm not still afraid to jump...to take that leap of faith...to...to literally...let you into my body...” she breathed, the dark space between them seeming to shrink and truncate, the air around her radiating warmth, her arms starting to shake again.

He all but shoved the glowing candelabra aside and scooped her up into his arms.

“I'll catch you, Rey, I swear to you. You have nothing to fear.” he whispered in her ear, voice warm and comforting in its low timbre. She buried her face in his neck, his raven hair tickling her cheeks and nose.

She took slow, steadying breaths, and he held her tight until her shaking stilled and she calmed completely.

Still, the heartbeat was strong in her chest, even if its tempo had slowed.

One brief glance inward, and the heat in her chest, her stomach, creeping over her shoulders, told her exactly why.

“And I've been feeling guilty for it, too...” she muttered against his skin. His bleeding heart translated to her almost like a physical wound.

“Sun-rey, please don't do that to yourself. It's okay to be scared, my love.” His words were sending shivers coursing down her spine – the warm kind.

The sensual kind.

“I've been feeling guilty because...” she pulled apart from him, just slightly, and looked deep into his hazel eyes, flickering in the candlelight.

And jumped.

“ _Stars above, I want you too_.”

The kiss she gave him set his skin on fire.

His hands roved all over her, trying to caress and hold her everywhere at once. Her hands kept running through his silken hair, over and over again, clutching at him, scratching his scalp and sending little shots of warmth down his body to pool between his legs.

Their kisses were so arduous that it seemed like they were trying to devour each other – all wet and warm and heady.

And where before her racing heart had been pounding with fear, Rey finally felt _excited_. Sure, there were nerves, but they felt steadying, grounding her in the novelty of the moment, her first time. They weren't any stronger than that.

Their lustful energy fed into one another, like an infinite energy loop, fiery and delicious, to the point where they couldn't figure out where one's arousal ended and the other's began.

In her eagerness, she pushed him flat onto his back, shoulders slamming against the dirt, but far from causing him pain, it only made his desire skyrocket and clutch her flush against him, lips needily grazing hers.

“Rey, are you sure?” he gasping between kisses, even as he was starting to drown in the flood of his arousal.

“Yes,” she breathed against his parted lips, clutching his face between her hands. “Yes, I want to do this with you.”

A throaty, high-placed, little moan escaped his mouth at her words, and he promptly sat them up, Rey straddling his waist.

She couldn't help the small yelp that shot from her mouth anymore than he could help the hot and hard feeling of the raging arousal beneath her mound that had prompted it.

Rey swallowed, her throat completely dry.

“You're so... _big_.” was all she could manage to say, and the tension broke.

Ben threw his head back with laughter, immediately reassuring her and cooling a bit of her overzealous heat as she joined in on the laughter too.

“Take the time to familiarize yourself, Rey, we're in no hurry here, believe you me.” he said, lovingly stroking her cheek. “With your blessing, this is hardly going to be a first and only time.”

He flushed, suddenly looking very naïve to her eyes.

“And I'm sure I have just as much to learn.”

Rey nodded, trying to adjust to the heat of him beneath her, grow comfortable with the feeling of him in this state. She wiggled her hips experimentally.

He huffed out something between a moan and gasp that made her heat up intoxicatingly. And what was more, she felt his pleasure acutely across their bond.

She would be lying if the sensation didn't make her feel a bit proud and powerful.

“I take it that feels good, then?” she asked, trying to keep the teasing lilt out of her voice.

He chuckled, very breathy.

“Rey – it's _you_. You could do almost anything even vaguely pleasurable to me and I'm sure I'd be reeling.” Her cheeks reddened in a very flattered way, and she slowly began to roll her hips, softly bucking against him.

His groan made her stomach flip, and the pressure of him against her, a few relatively thin layers of clothing the only separation between them, made her feel really good too, pleasuring the whole area of her sex.

They gasped as their mutual pleasure lit up their bond like a bonfire, coming together as they fell back into a rhythm of fervent kissing, Rey's hips rocking back and forth readily now.

Their mouths occupied, they had to communicate mind to mind.

_Rey, please tell me. What it is, exactly, that you'd be comfortable doing tonight?_ He was panting even inside his head.

She moaned in her throat as he started to match her rhythm and buck his hips back against her.

She was amazed she could even string a coherent sentence together, her body singing with their shared pleasure.

_I want to be touched and to touch you. I want to show you how to pleasure me and I want you to teach me how to please you. And if all that goes well, I'd like to see how you feel inside me._ she said, completely breathless, and yet somehow managing to make sense.

He clutched at her with such longing and bucked against her just so that she felt herself trembling over a tempting, familiar precipice.

She didn't think she'd get there so soon, but with her desire so elevated, and her motions so needy...

He felt himself tottering on the edge too, her pleasure and his amalgamating and melting together.

_Rey!!_ he cried out, so sweetly and with such longing that it almost did her in.  _Please, let's. I don't think I'm going to last much longer – but Force, I want that so much. Rey, I love you -_

And then their eyes snapped open.

Something was wrong. Horrifically wrong.

Their passions, hotter than a twin sunset, suddenly went up in smoke, so dire and terrible and cold was the feeling that filled their chests in an instant.

Rey was out of his lap in a moment and they stood, clutching each other, watching each other's back. They stared wearily into the surrounding darkness that had descended on them, the stars and the guttering candles the only light to see by.

Try as they might, they could not pierce the darkness with their weak vision.

But when disaster struck, the sound was like a sonic detonator.

And what was more, it was the most horribly familiar sound either could have imagined.

Out of the darkness to Rey's left, came the growling roar of a saber powered by a cracked kyber crystal coming to life, the blade just inches from her throat.

Kylo Ren's old lightsaber was held aloft by a practiced hand attached to the dark, cloaked arm of a tall hooded, stranger, face completely hidden in shadow.

When he spoke, his voice was breathy, but low and commanding – there was no mistaking the sincere threat that his hissed.

“Move and she dies,” he said, grabbing holding of Rey's arm with a blackened, claw-like hand. He dragged her back in the darkness away from Ben, her face staying illuminated by the light of his cruel red saber.

“ _Ben -!_ ” she screamed, unable to keep the panic from her voice, nor the shock, the horror of separation.

Ben's hand moved instinctively to draw his saber from his belt, but it flew from his grasp and out of reach into the darkness.

Six figures, all known to him, stepped into the tight halo of light, weapons all drawn and directed at him – an arm cannon, a vibrocleaver, a war club, a Mandalorian executioner's ax, a blaster rifle, and a scythe, the group's second in command grasping his lightsaber in his free hand.

“Your skill with the Force seems to have somewhat improved, Vicrul.” Ben deadpanned, turning to his father's old strategy of using insult humor to hide his fear pounding against his rib cage.

But having spent over a month not hiding a single emotion, none of his old zealots were convinced by the act.

“How ironic, given that yours seems to have stalled completely.” Vicrul purred, the voice modulator of his phalanx mask making him sound more machine than man.

“How many times do I have to kill you for you to get the picture?” Ben fired back, the sliver of Ren's blood in him starting to boil at the sight of his beloved so terrified.

The sigh from the cloaked figure holding Rey captive – though she struggled all the while against his iron grip – was decisively vapid and bored.

“When you're finished with the happy little reunion, we do actually have some business to attend to.” the stranger muttered, a growl lingering on the edge of his voice. “Knock him out, so we can do what we need to do with _her_ first.”

The purr in the cloaked savage's voice was enough to make rage explode forth from the base of Ben's spine, and his vision blur red.

He charged at him with an unholy roar, his old saber flying to his hand as readily as if he were its only true master, and Rey used the man's momentary surprise to rip free of his grip and whip out of arm's reach – Ben's spitting and growling saber going straight for the man's head.

For each jab, cut, and stab, the man managed to move in perfect opposition, dodging everything with mirrored ease, as if he could predict Ben's every move.

It was only when Ben's rage cooled in a moment of clarity supplied by his Rey as she ignited Leia's saber to defend herself from the attacking Knights, that he was clever enough to fake out his foe.

Unfortunately, though the blow landed, it only managed to slice off the stranger's cloak.

Ben's heart stopped beating.

He frantically tried to force air back into his frozen lungs.

“Who...who are you?” he breathed, petrified.

It was like looking in a dark, twisted mirror.

Every sharp angle of his face, his nose, his cheek bones, his brow, his jaw, was staring back at him in perfect detail.

The only difference was, the shadowy copy seemed to be entirely composed of sticky black pitch, dried until it hardened into a form as strong as concrete – pock-marked and textured with popped air bubbles and some sort of fleshy, organic detritus, sitting just beneath the black surface.

His eyes were electric, yellow and red-rimmed orbs, staring at him from dark hollows.

When he smiled, it was like looking into the abyss of a dying star, like his teeth could cut through the very fabric of space.

“I'm you, of course.” he said, with a sinful grin.

Rey's shriek from behind him made Ben whip around, all thought of watching his back abandoned.

_Ben, run!!_ she screamed in his mind as Ap'lek and Vicrul locked her arms behind her and forced her to bend at the waist, the shock of pain down her arms making her reflexively drop the lightsaber, Cardo calling it to the hand without the mounted arm cannon on it, catching it with ease.

“Silence her – she's too dangerous to leave conscious!” the shadow hissed behind Ben, and with the flat edge of his vibrocleaver, Trudgen knocked her out.

He saw a flash of crimson blood on the blade and his heart shattered.

“NO!” he screamed, charging towards them, but they were already making a break for the palace, dragging Rey's body between them.

Cardo tossed Leia's saber to his master, but Ben snatched it out of the air.

The shadow ripped the red saber from Ben's hands with the Force as recompense.

He whirled the furious blade with a flourish, making it roar.

“Cut me down if you wish, deserter,” the shadow of his former self purred, “but know that if you do, they'll know in an instant, and kill her before you can run in to save her. Can you bring her back from the dead twice, I wonder?” he mused, his poetics sounding not a bit like him, but terribly familiar nonetheless.

Ben took a deep breath. Even if went against everything he'd ever learned about combat, he had to take Rey's advice and run.

He had to regroup, call for reinforcements if he could – this shadow was a new threat he knew nothing about, except that he evenly matched his skill in combat perfectly. Him alone, against this shade, and his six Knights, somehow back from the dead?

It would be a suicide to attempt to fight them.

As much as he abhorred the entity in front of him, it was right about one thing – if he wanted to save Rey's life from his former pupils, he had to fight this monster another time, when he was smarter, had a strategy, was better armed.

And against Ben Solo's every instinct to protect his dyad, with his life if necessary, he turned off his mother's saber – Rey's saber – and charged into the trees, into the darkness, disappearing and making his twisted foe seethe in anger that his bating ploy had failed.


	17. XVI.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey learns more about her twisted captor and his plans.
> 
> Ben figures out how to call for help.
> 
> This chapter contains elements of body horror.

XVI.

Rey Skywalker had become accustomed to the feeling of returning to consciousness after being knocked out – such was the effect of fighting in an inter-galactic war and learning about Forces beyond her control.

She had often been pushed to the point of being physically overwhelmed.

But never had her eyes opened to see a stranger scene.

She was cuffed and restrained against the back of Padmé Amidala's marble throne, which had been turned completely around to face the room – which, since she'd last seen it, had been completely transformed.

The room was alight with a dull green glow, coming from the bulky and dark tinted-control panels that surrounded the room in a semi-circle. Stationed at different strategic locations around the room were three of the six Knights of Ren – the sharp-shooter, the scythe-wielder, and one with the cleaver who'd knocked her out.

A tall, cylindrical structure was near the entrance of the room, covered with a dark tarp, though a green light haloed its dark edges also. Beyond the new pillar, Rey could just make out a small, dark, First Order transport ship. They'd crashed it through the glass dome of the palace – surely while she was knocked out. She and Ben would have heard that easily last night, no matter how wrapped up in each other they'd been.

Sunlight was vaguely filtering through the shattered opening.

And seated in a mauve, plush lounge chair in the center of the room, in front of the tarp-covered mystery pillar, was the disgusting tar-copy of Ben, leering at her with undisguised pleasure.

“Good morning, Rey Palpatine.” he said, a certain tone slipping into his voice that Rey could only describe as showman-like.

“I must say,” he said, rising to his feet “it is an honor, and a pleasure, to meet you at last.”

“Skywalker,” she spat back at him, without hesitation “my name is Rey Skywalker.”

The monster's smile fell away.

“She's changed her name to distance herself from the lineage she hates,” he said, mocking her, “What say you to that, Vicrul?”

“Quaint, but exceedingly foolish.” his second-in-command said, voice crackling from the modulator as he sharpened his scythe in the corner, leaning against a corner of the control panel.

“Indeed. Very foolish, thinking you can run from such power when it swirls about in your very veins.” said the beast, approaching her, slow and tepid.

Like he was stalking her.

“Don't you dare come a step closer.” she growled, staring him down, despite her seat on the floor.

He was dead in front of her in a second, just a breath away.

“And what are you going to do to me if I do?” he hissed, his voice still vapory and thin.

She refused to look away from his cold, neon yellow eyes. She would not show even the slightest bit of fear.

“You're lucky I need you alive and well, little scavenger,” she bristled at his use of Ben's favorite pet-name “or you'd already have several horrific injuries.”

“Lucky Ben got away, or so would you,” she said, with a victorious grin.

True enough, she could sense her dyad's palpable distress, but it was all fear for her. He was somewhere far away, hiding in the woods.

He, at least, was safe.

A roar to her left broke her from her reverie, as the most brutish of the bunch brought his vibrocleaver down against the hard tile.

“ _We would have found the deserter by now if you would just let us torture the information out of her!!!_ ” he screamed, his voice like the a guttural roar of a rancor, befitting a dark side user like him.

The monster man's hand shot forward in a vicious claw, and Trudgen's hand shot to his throat.

“There will be... _no_...torturing of the prisoner, Trudgen. Do I make myself clear?” he said, at a cruel whisper, his tone dipping into something low that reminded Rey unnervingly of Ben – or, at least, of Kylo Ren.

Trudgen nodded fervently, and the tar-monster stopped squeezing his throat with the Force.

“Need I remind you, you blade-wielding brute, that he will feel anything done to her, as an injury unto himself? Do you want him coming in here, filled with caustic anger and using that as a weapon to smite us all? Or, would you dare weaken him by hurting her, making my defeat of him...an _unfair fight?_ ” he said, voice dripping with rage.

“No Master,” muttered Trudgen, head bowed subserviently.

“I thought not.” his master concluded, huffing as his anger cooled. “And, at any rate, even if they weren't a dyad, any energy we rob her of through grievous injury is energy that would be lost – that wouldn't be funneled into _her_.” he said, saying the pronoun with such awe-struck reverence that it disturbed Rey more profoundly than all his angry threats combined.

“Who the hell is 'her'?! And more importantly, what in the Force's name are you?!” Rey said, fed up with her confusion.

His smile seemed to freeze her from the inside out.

“You're an intelligent scavenger, Rey Palpatine, and a rather decent Force-user, if my memory serves me correctly. Surely, can't you guess who I am the product of?” he said, throwing his arms wide in a dramatic gesture as he put some distance between them again.

Of course Rey could guess. But that didn't mean she wanted to say her theory out-loud.

The monster's question was rhetorical.

“I am the product of Executive Order 1126,” he said, grinning wider still, as Rey's heart plummeted into her stomach.

“Did you honestly think your grandfather would have been foolish enough,” he began slowly descending into rippling, cackling chuckles “to blindly trust that boy?! He could see right through that soft little heart you'd managed to turn back to the light.

"When he called Ben to Exegol with temptations of power and freedom from pain, the Emperor wanted to get one thing, and one thing only.” he said, smile cutting through the dappled day-light in the room, blinding her with its shade.

“A tiny drop of his blood, extracted stealthy by one of his caretakers, so he could make me: a perfect, obedient copy, with all his memories, and all his talent in the Force, to carry out my maker's work in his...inevitable absence.” he said, with a hiss like a leaking steam pipe, burning and deadly with its heat.

“And what,” Rey said, speaking with extra vitriol in her voice to keep it from shaking with fear, “was Palpatine's work, exactly?”

The shadow shrugged in boyish way so like Ben that it made her blood run cold.

“If you don't already know the answer, it's not worth telling you. At any rate, a clever Jedi like you should be able to piece that together in short order.” he said, eyes crinkling in petty victory just as Kylo's had when she had refused to allow him into her mind when he'd first attempted to interrogate her.

And then he threw the tarp off the glowing, green cylinder, and Rey nearly vomited on the spot.

In the tank was a tar-like mass, fleshy and mucous-lined, with dripping pustules and an amorphous feminine form – suspended in the green fluid, wired to various life support systems that connected to the outside, completely naked, stringy hair tied up in three identical buns.

If it weren't for the nauseating substance she was made out of, Rey's dark copy would have looked like her but better – curvier, sexier, more feminine and more powerful at once. For the moment, her dark lids were closed and her no-doubt, bright yellow eyes, unseeing.

The vibrocleaver-wielder, Trudgen approached Rey and forced a thick IV tube, the end of it dark and sticky with the acidic tar that made up her copy, into her arm. She cried out as it burned her, but tried her best to hiss through the pain until she adjusted.

Her vision blurred as Rey saw the tube was sending – following a brief ribbon of scarlet blood – a horribly familiar, wispy, slightly white energy coursing along the tube and into the perverse suspended animation tank.

She quickly realized her copy's eyes would not be staying closed for long.

Even as her Force began to leave her and she grew sleepy, collapsing on the floor, the fire in her belly only stoked hotter.

“You'll never be able to beat Ben.” she managed to choke out, as she fought to stay conscious “He's stronger than you will ever be. He killed you once...and he'll do it again...”

The shadow only scoffed in laughter, as he affectionately stroked the glass tank containing his future Empress.

“Foolish child, I am more than a reincarnation of Kylo Ren. I am Kylo Ren as he could have been – the perfect iteration of him, lacking in any doubt or confusion or pain. I am the realization of his full potential – completely given over to the dark side. And soon...you will see how far _you_ could've gone, had you joined our cause.” he said, with a lascivious grin.

The shadow woman in the tank become more solid with each passing second, her mass no longer shifting and writhing but solidifying – becoming concrete, but no less organic, like her partner who was lovingly rubbing her glass prison.

A heartbeat monitor picked up a steady, mechanical, high-pitched beat, and Kylo's eyes flared in victory.

“Wake up, dearest,” he said, pressing his forehead to the glass. Rey wasn't sure if it was the effect of watching her life drain away, but Kylo sounded exactly like Ben in this moment.

That was exactly the way he whispered sweet nothings to her at night, worshipful and tender, just above a whisper.

“It's time for you to _live_.” he growled, voice devolving back into its foggy, hissing quality – his own voice, not a cheap imitation of Ben's.

A pair of darkened yellow eyes, golden-brown tinged, as if they'd been fermenting in aged liquor for months on end, snapped open. The eager creature took one look at Rey and slammed herself against the glass, nose pressed up against the barrier. She had hundreds of razor sharp teeth – like needles surgically transplanted into her mouth.

Her worst Force-vision come to life.

Kylo's affectionate chuckle sounded like a death-knell.

“That's right, my sweet, fear not. Soon, you'll be the only one. But it'll take a few hours more – birthing is a difficult, sensitive process, and it mustn't be rushed. I want you to be fully formed when you emerge.” he said, something like desire gleaming in those ember eyes, at which she pouted her lips in an affectionate way that made Rey convulse and feel ill.

She looked exactly like her when she did that, if only just for a moment.

“Be patient, my Empress. It won't be long.” Kylo cooed. Empress Palpatine ceased her pouting and refocused on her prey across the room – not breaking eye contact.

Not even blinking.

“I'll leave you two, to...catch up?” he said, chuckling darkly as he turned on his heels and directed the scythe-wielder and Trudgen out of the room with just a gesture.

“Kuruk, stay here and watch her as a precaution. She'll be weaker once she wakes, but not helpless.” The sharp-shooter nodded, staying behind as her single guard, absentmindedly cleaning his blaster rifle.

Rey blinked first in the stare-off with her shadow, but she had to.

She had to set her head down – to rest, to think.

She would never get out of here if she was delirious with exhaustion and couldn't even form a coherent strategy.

She let herself slip into sleep, praying to those watching over her from the Force that she would wake up again.

* * * * *

Ben had slipped into the Force six hours ago, and hadn't stopped yelling since.

It was as if the light-realm had completely vacated – as if everyone he knew had vanished from the Force entirely.

No Luke.

No Leia.

No Obi-Wan, Anakin, Windu, Yoda – nobody.

His screams for help, for someone to hear him, echoed into the chasm unanswered.

He couldn't fathom it.

Eventually, his exhaustion won the long game and he dropped back onto the forest floor, and promptly fell asleep, albeit, for no more than a handful of hours.

When he woke, it was to a war-torn boot nudging him in the bicep.

“Get up, kid, what do you think you're doing?” Ben tried to shove the stupid leg away, only for his hand to pass through the apparition.

He had half a mind to blearily mutter something about five more minutes, until all his memories came rocketing back to him at high speeds and he jumped to his feet, gasping in shock and running his hands down his face.

“Force, what am I doing?!” he exclaimed.

“Now he gets it,” said the old man, voice dripping with his signature sarcasm. Ben frantically rubbed his temples, trying to get his brain back into working order.

“Okay – I can't reach anyone in the Force. Clearly, that – shadow man, or whatever he is – is cutting me off from it, keeping me from calling for help that way. It's the only logical explanation I can think of. At least, he has to be Force-sensitive, right? How else could the Knights be pulling lightsabers around now like they're Jedi padawans?”

Han seemed to genuinely consider this hypothesis, rubbing at the scruff on his chin.

“I'd warn you to assume nothing, but that does seem like a likely option.”

Ben began to pace back and forth, his thoughts a whirl-wind.

“Rey is detained and inside, but from what I can tell, safe for now.” His sigh came out as half a growl. “As much as I want to run to her rescue, she's bound to be in most defensible spot in the palace, and heavily guarded. It's too risky.”

“Also likely,” Han huffed in frustration. “What about non-supernatural help, then?” he offered “Her friends? The pilot and former storm-trooper?”

“They're bound to have cut us off from any form of communication hours ago – so even if I were to sneak back inside and steal a long-range comm to contact them, it'd be useless.”

“Yes,” Han mused “you do seem to be boxed-in tight here, kid.”

“Then how the hell do I _call for help?!_ ” he exclaimed, kicking at the nearest tree in frustrated agony. He winced and had to sit down as his ankle complained.

“C'mon now son, I raised you better than that.”

Ben didn't even try to keep the sarcastic eyebrow from quirking up – a trait he'd inherited straight from him.

“I mean I trained you to be more resourceful than this.” Han said, exasperated, “The Solo legacy is one of flying by the seat of our pants, hedging our bets, and always managing to make it out in one piece, get the girl, and be the hero. It's what we live for!” he said, fully invested his nostalgia, the memories of his past victories.

“Need I remind you, 'the Solo legacy' is limited to exactly two people – you and me?” Ben deadpanned.

Han rolled his eyes at his son.

“That's not the point,” he said crouching down to his son's eye-level “My point is you have all the resources you need – you just need to notice them and seize them by the scruff.”

Ben ran his hands down his face and tried to clear his head and open his mind to the possibilities.

The problem was his stupid ankle was still sending shooting pain up his leg.

“I would, Dad, but the problem is this _damn_ -” he stood and ripped off his left boot “tracking bracelet is killing me as usu-!”

Ben froze mid-sentence, the realization hitting harder than a Force-lightning blast from Snoke. Han gave him a pointed look.

Ben sighed and sat back down, calling the nearest sharp rock to his hand.

“This does not mean you're always right.” he muttered, raising the stone high, aimed just above a particularly dodgy panel of the ankle-bracelet.

“No,” Han conceded with a smile,

“But you just might be.”

As the rock made contact with the tracking bracelet and it jaggedly split in two with a high electronic shriek, signaling that the alarm had been triggered before the connection to the battery promptly snapped, the apparition of his father disappeared.

He was no more sure this time than the first whether it was really the ghost of his father, or just his imagination.

But regardless, as Ben slipped his boot back on, leaving the broken pieces of the bracelet on the forest floor, and prepared to give the palace a wide, wide berth to reach the front gardens and wait there for someone (Force-willing, a friend) to land a shuttle within an hour in response to the distress signal from the bracelet – he came to the same conclusion.

Real or imagined, the results would have been the same, and his father's presence would have meant just as much.

* * * * *

When Rey awoke, the light from the shattered dome indicated mid-day.

And Lady Palpatine was staring at her like Rey looked at Ben's cooked happabore bacon, hot out of the pan.

“You're not going to intimidate me.” Rey griped, voice groggy as she pulled her exhausted body into a sitting position.

The shadow-copy shrugged.

“Maybe not,” she said, in an eerily perfect imitation of her voice, shocking Rey with her sudden ability to speak, despite not having even been alive a few hours ago, “but I'm certainly not about to stop if it so clearly makes you uncomfortable.” she purred, flashing her razor-thin, silvery black fangs.

“Go crawl back into whatever dark pit you came from!” Rey spat.

A click of a safety and Rey tensed as she remembered the sharp-shooter – Kuruk – was still guarding her from a corner of the room.

The demon simpered girlishly.

“But I came from you! Do you honestly want me to crawl back inside of your chest?” Rey convulsed with disgust, and Lady Palpatine cackled, high and musical and disturbingly perfect.

“Oooh ho hoh! Poor darling! Can't even withstand the thought of living with such perfection in her veins!” Her gaze suddenly darkened and her voice dropped to a lower octave.

“That was always your problem, wasn't it? You were too afraid of your own strengths to acknowledge them? To even give them the chance to breath, to exist, to thrive and make you better. It's a shame really, you'd be so much more free if you'd merely joined Kylo Ren – no more indecision, no more hard choices, just doing what you wished, completely by your own devices.”

She glowered and picked at all of Rey's hidden scabs – each poke like a searing jab from a lightsaber, all her darkest thoughts reflected back at her.

“Maybe if you had, you wouldn't be so terrified of your own lust for him. Wouldn't that be nice...” she said, shamelessly running her hands down her voluptuous body.

“Taking what you want, whenever you want it, not having to deal with fear or conscience holding you back. You'd be a liberated woman...” she said, golden-brown eyes smoldering.

Rey scoffed lightly, though she felt the pain rawly in her chest from her dark twin's words.

“And lose myself in the process? Yeah, right.” Lady Palpatine glowered, unconvinced.

“As if you don't long to do all sorts of _nasty_ things to him.” Rey would've crossed her arms, were they not cuffed behind her back.

“I don't have to justify my feelings to anyone – least of all you. I know my desires are normal and that's all I give a damn about.” Rey said, forcing conviction into her voice and finding that it sounded fairly natural, even to her ears.

Lady Palpatine let out a shriek of laughter.

“So shameless!! Perhaps you and I aren't so different after all...”

Rey stared her demon down, eyes burning.

“You and I are only tethered together by shared Force – nothing more. I will _never_ be like you. I don't have the stomach for complete amorality. I don't care what I want, or how much I want it, I would never turn over to the side of evil. I don't care what my blood says. I make my own choices – destiny be damned.”

And this time, Rey didn't have to convince herself she meant those words – she simply did.

Her shadow's high scream could've shattered ear drums if it lasted for more than a millisecond. Rey cried out in pain, and her guard visibly flinched.

“When I get out of here, I am going to hunt him down like the Bantha-trash he is and make you _watch_ as I sever him, limb from limb, as slowly and tortuously as possible...I'll like his screams...but I'll _treasure_ yours and lick up each of your salty tears before I rip out your throat...” she growled, syringe-teeth flaring beyond pulled-back lips.

“ _If_ you get out,” Rey challenged, not relenting in the slightest. Lady Palpatine hissed and turned her back to her, muttering a continuous stream foul obscenities as she curled in on herself.

Rey felt herself flush with pride.

She allowed herself to savor the victory, however small. Tears sprung to her eyes as Ben's words came back to her.

He'd been absolutely right.

Finding and keeping the balance was a continuous series of choices, a daily process – and today she'd chosen to not be ashamed of her desires, but also to hold strong to her values.

She was doing right by the name she had chosen for herself.

She was Rey.

And she was whole.

Her reverie almost made her miss out on the quiet clicking in the room.

Rey's ears pricked up and she glanced around as subtly as she could – straining to hear past the string of obscenities Lady Palpatine still uttered, like her own personal lullaby.

She was absolutely gob-smacked when she saw the source of the sound.

Luke's lightsaber was rolling across the throne room towards her, slowly pulled along by the Force.

She didn't care how, or who was pushing the key to her freedom towards her.

Regardless, her imprisonment was at its end.

At least, so long as her guard didn't see the saber.

But a cursory glance told her that the flat-face helmeted, blinder-wearing Kuruk was completely fixated on cleaning his rifle.

The lightsaber clicked closer, only three meters away now.

Closer still, two meters, and Lady Palpatine didn't turn, nor did the sharp-shooter look up.

One meter, even closer. Rey didn't even dare to breath.

Three feet.

Two.

Rey called the saber to her hand at the last moment, and the stupid thing flipped end-over-end with a loud clatter.

Lady Palpatine whirled around in her tank just as Rey ignited the blade and freed her hands – the metal cuffs readily splitting in two. The monstrous shadow uttered a high, piercing scream.

One laser blast to her heart and she was silenced, floating belly-up like a dead colo claw fish, the tank cracking as the green liquid slowly spilled out onto the floor through the jagged hole.

“ _Oh, damn all the stars..._ ” droned the low, electronically manipulated voice of the sharp-shooter, lowering his weapon.

Rey stared at the murderer, gob-smacked, extinguishing her saber as she ripped the IV from her arm – a bit of her strength flowing back to her almost immediately as the siphoning to her doppelganger ceased.

Kuruk's steps were silent as he strode across the room to her, grabbing her firmly by the elbow.

“ _No time to explain. Come on._ ” he said, leading her to the nearest window. He cracked it open with the butt of his gun, clearing out the rest of the glass with the barrel, and attached a grappling hook to the ledge from his belt.

He stepped onto the ledge outside, helping Rey through, and, tugging her firmly against his hip, repelled down to the ground floor, releasing the hook and wire from a switch on his belt once they were back on solid ground.

They stole across the side courtyard into the woods beyond. Despite the heavy layers of padded black clothing Kuruk wore, he moved significantly faster than Rey.

Then again, she'd nearly just had all her Force drained out of her. No wonder she was panting after a bit of light jogging.

Kuruk stopped abruptly and turned to face her once they'd reached the thick of the trees.

He rested his hands on her shoulders lightly.

“ _Sit down, rest. You'll need to recover your energy for the fight ahead._ ”

Rey dropped onto her haunches in the moss, and had to ask her questions between pants.

“Why – why are you helping me?”

Kuruk sighed, his face-mask crackling with static.

“ _This may take a while to explain. Just know this,_ ” he said, with placating hands.

And then he lifted his arms, and removed his helmet with a decompressing hiss, revealing a shock of red hair – long in the front, where it was razed short over the rest of the scalp – over fierce, bright green eyes.

“My name is Ánci Pelleck, and I'm here to rescue you.” said the red-head, in a clearly feminine voice.

Rey Skywalker could only stare in abject shock as she recognized the name instantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to my fanfic, where, secretly, everything has been a Chekhov's Gun the entire time.


	18. XVII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey learns how Ánci became a Knight of Ren and helps to create a diversion.
> 
> Help arrives, and Ben is there to greet it.
> 
> This chapter contains mention of abuse and bullying.

XVII.

“I know you!” Rey gaped, staring at the face of Ben Solo's childhood friend.

Ánci's eyebrows shot up in pleasant surprise as she sat down across from Rey.

“You do?!” she exclaimed.

Rey's face split into a smile, despite her weakened state.

“Yes, Ben told me about you! You were friends in school together – you were his first crush!” Ánci rolled her elegant, viridian eyes.

“Figures he would've said _something_ about that to you.”

“Well, I did have to beg him for the story,” Rey grinned, even as her brow furrowed.

“But I don't understand – how are you here? Why are you with the Knights?”

Ánci sighed as she set down her bulky helmet and began to remove her padded vest, unbuckling the hidden straps, leaving her just in a thin, dark tunic, and her heavy overcoat up top.

“Put this on under your shirt, you'll need the extra protection,” she said, as the vest fell into the moss.

Rey complied as Ánci began to share her story.

“I was among the few chosen by Luke Skywalker to be part of his first clutch of students, along with Ben Solo. I was thirteen at the time, and hadn't seen Ben in years.”

Her shrewd eyes took on a sadder quality.

“I don't think he recognized me – but I certainly remembered him. He inspired me.” she chuckled lightly, her green eyes softening for a moment.

“I'm sure he thought I was the mastermind behind our schemes of adopting strays and humiliating gangs of bullies, but after a while, I took to following _him_ when he was still looking up to _me_. Every reckless escape from the schoolyard, each childish prank we pulled on our teachers with our slapped-together mini-droids, it was a sun-spot of memories in otherwise dark childhood.”

Her gaze was steely when she met Rey's eyes.

“I'm sure I don't have to explain to you how being related to a Sith – however distantly – can permanently color your life.”

Rey's eyebrows pinched together in sympathy.

“You too?” she murmured, a bit uncomfortable with the way Ánci's glass-green eyes seemed to see through her as she tightened the vest's straps under her top, securing the leather armor in place.

“My great aunt was the Seventh Sister – Darth Vader's famous inquisitor.” Ánci replied, grim. “I transferred to Ben's school a year late because I was relentlessly tormented and bullied at my old one. The district forced my family to move after my arm was broken and my wrist's were slashed.

“Needless to say, when I arrived at Master Luke's temple on Yavin 4, I instantly felt pulled two ways – one told me to stick close to Ben, spar with him at every opportunity, talk to him if I could, though he quickly gained a reputation for being the biggest recluse of the clutch. I still felt...responsible for him somehow, loyal to him in a way I couldn't quite understand.”

She shrugged.

“Maybe it was because he was the first real friend I had ever known, and I was clinging to the memories.”

Rey's brow furrowed, skeptical, as the first flare of jealousy she'd ever known lit up bright green in her aura.

Ánci spotted it immediately and barked with laughter, tonelessly.

“I'm not here to steal your dyad from you, Skywalker, believe you me – I haven't had interest in pursuing men in years.”

She continued.

“The other direction I was being pulled lead towards the library, which only Masters were allowed into. I was filled with this insatiable craving for knowledge from the time I arrived. I wanted to become the best Jedi I could – I was always in constant competition with myself. I realized a bit too late that it was the dark side, egging me forward in a pursuit of power.”

“But you're still here – you helped me.” Rey interjected, completely perplexed. Ánci didn't seem as if she'd completely given herself to the dark side.

She smiled grimly.

“The trouble was my two goals became perfectly aligned the night Kylo Ren burned down the temple. When he asked who among us would follow him, I was one of five who joined him – the only girl as well. It was then that I started disguising myself as a man and hid my face, for fear of being perceived as weak.”

Her eyes glowered darkly.

“Ren's Master, Snoke, always insisted on breaking the women inductees into his ranks more violently than the men. I was the only one of the group who survived Kylo's tutelage. The others disappeared one by one as time passed – I have no idea what became of them. Maybe Snoke dispatched of the apprentices he viewed as weak, or unworthy.

“I, however, survived long enough to join the ranks of the Knights of Ren, alongside Kylo.” She shuddered, her eyes dark with her memories as she laid her hand on her battered helmet.

“I have no idea how I emerged from the Knights basic training with even a sliver of myself intact – but, somehow, I did. Even as I became a loyal, hardened soldier, no different than Kylo, I still insisted I was there to look out for him, to protect him.

“I tried to persuade Ben to leave Snoke any number of times, to give up the First Order's cause.” She pulled aside the collar of her shirt, showing a pale, jagged scar that ran from her shoulder down beyond her clothed chest.

Lifting the bottom of her shirt, she revealed that the scar lanced past her hipbone.

“The first time, he gave me this, and nearly killed me.” she deadpanned.

She removed the padded glove from her right hand, revealing that it was entirely made of wrought iron metal and wiring.

“The second time, he did this.”

Her eyes scrunched at the corners, and her voice was thick with emotion when she spoke again.

“The third time, he fell to his knees in tears, begging for his mother like a lost child. I rubbed his shoulders for three hours as he cried into my lap.

“It was then I knew that – though it made me sick to my stomach each time I murdered, tortured or assassinated – I had to stay. Though power and the pursuit of it meant nothing to me now, left me utterly cold inside, I had to protect Ben, to keep what ever distant part of him remained, alive.

“Perhaps Snoke noticed that the more Kylo was sent on missions with his Knights, the more his cruelty waned, because it was less than a year later that he separated the Knights from their leader, on the pretense of needing to train Kylo full time – to help him reach his full potential.

“By then, it was too late for me to get out. There was no escaping Vicrul's watchful eye – or the threat of Ap'lek's cruel blade.”

Ánci raised her jaded eyes to meet Rey's.

“And I've been trying to take down the Knights from the inside ever since.”

Rey could stare at this iron woman in awe.

“However, deceit and subtle sabotage have been my only effective tools against the others. Vicrul will gladly die for whosoever is Master, Ap'lek serves only himself, Ushar gives his full respect to whoever the most powerful man in the room is, and Trudgen always tries to kiss up to our Masters with the intent of learning all their secrets, killing and usurping them when their guard is down.”

She shook her head wearily, running a tired hand through her fiery locks.

“It's taken a decade, but I've finally accepted that they're all completely beyond my help. I doubt there was ever a group of men more entrenched in the dark side than they.”

Ánci looked Rey dead in the face when she spoke next.

“I only ask you – no, I'm begging you, Rey Skywalker – for one request: leave Cardo alive. He's the Knights armorer, the one in the welding mask. He's young, barely a day over eighteen. He only joined our ranks two cycles ago. He's scared and naive and just wants to be respected. I don't know if he can be helped, but I am certain he deserves a chance to live and shed the shackles of Knighthood, if he can.”

Rey let out a shuddering breath. This was all a lot to take in.

“Okay. I'll see what I can do for him.” she muttered, unnerved by Ánci's burning gaze. “I suppose you've answered all my questions,” Rey mused “except for how you all are still alive. Ben told me he killed the Knights.”

Ánci's lips curled in disgust.

“Leave it to Palpatine and his fondness for cybernetics to warp and twist life unnaturally and bring us back from a peaceful death through his successor.” she said, turning her back to her and shrugging off the shoulders of her padded coat, revealing the tangle of cross-beams and wires underneath.

Rey clapped her hand over her mouth at the sight of Ánci's artificial lungs and hearts, tinged-blue, pumping away in the gaps under the scrap metal plating covering her back.

She yanked her coat back on and turned to matters of business – cold and calculating and decisively Sith-like.

“Do you know of anything we could use to distract the Knights away from Kylo – meaning our new Master, not Ben?” Ánci asked.

Rey's mind raced, trying desperately to think of a solution, any solution.

“We would need to sneak back inside and comm for help. Between just the three of us, I think dealing with six Sith is at least one too many.”

Ánci nodded in ascent.

“Trouble with that is Ushar cut off the power in the palace hours ago.” Ánci explained. Rey groaned, smoothing back her hair from her forehead.

“Okay then, just get me a comm and get me to the generator room and I'll see what I can do.”

“Just do yourself a favor and try not to speak to Ben across your dyad yet – he can mask himself well in the Force, but you're abysmal at it.”

Rey couldn't help but glare at the not-so-guarded insult.

“Kylo will be carefully listening to your aura in the Force, and he knows about your dyad – if you try to talk to Ben, he'll be able to locate and capture him. Wait until we call for help and destroy the generator – the electrical disturbance and distraction should buy you the moment you need to tell Ben you're alright.”

Rey stewed at the thought of Ben running around the palace grounds, not even knowing she was alive, but gritted her teeth.

“Fine. Then once we've done that, we avoid your brothers, find Ben, and strategize together about our next move.” Rey said, determined, if still weary.

“Very well, but let's get one thing straight – the Knights of Ren are _not_ my brothers,” Ánci said, rising to her feet, Rey likewise “Maybe Ben is, maybe Cardo is, but the others are dead to me.” she said, hauling her blaster rifle over her shoulder and moving deeper into the trees, Rey following close behind.

* * * * *

They rounded the palace to the back entrance, staying within the safety of the shaded forest as the shadows stretched long.

Cutting across the gardens as Ánci screwed her helmet back on, they walked up the marble path to the entrance near the ballroom. Glancing inside, she cursed, her voice unnaturally deepened by the modulator again.

“ _Dammit. Trudgen's guarding this wing._ ”

“You could pretend to have recaptured me.” Rey suggested at a whisper, crouched out of sight of the glass door.

“ _He's too paranoid to buy that bluff – he's never trusted me in all my years with the Knights._ ” Her sigh came out as a growl. “ _Kriff, what do we do?_ ”

A light came on in Rey's mind.

“I have an idea,” she muttered, sitting down and trying to center herself, “If it works, we should be able to sneak up to the generator room, no problem.”

“ _And if it doesn't?_ ” Ánci asked.

But Rey didn't answer. She focused on the only living thing she'd reliably be beside the whole time – Ánci.

She delved deep into the center of Ánci's essence, gasping at the sensation of her body going numb as she became nearly incorporeal again. Everything that Ánci was as Kuruk, Rey became – sturdy, intimidating, strong, aggressive, patient, calm and collected. Rey let her own identity melt away into nonexistence as she devolved into little more than Ánci's shadow.

For all her talk of not being able to conceal herself in the Force, Ánci recoiled in shock when Rey disappeared before her eyes.

“ _Rey?! How did you do that?!_ ” she exclaimed, voice popping with static.

Rey spoke directly inside the Sith woman's head.

_It's a skill I picked up on accident weeks ago – I managed to meditate and become so one with the forest out back that I was able to disappear completely. Ben couldn't even see me._

As she spoke in Ánci's mind, Rey flickered in and out of existence, her form wavering in the afternoon light.

“ _Don't try to speak to me if you can help it. You need to be absolutely focused to stay hidden; I'm getting flashes of you._ ” Ánci commanded.

She felt Rey nod in her head and she said no more.

Praying to the cold, uncaring stars above their heads that this would somehow manage to work, Ánci whipped her blaster rifle from her back and – silencer turned on – shot herself twice, once in the arm, and once in the leg, shocking Rey to her core and nearly breaking her focus before the Sith stalked inside.

“There you are, brother,” growled Trudgen as Ánci faked a limp and stumbled towards him. “I take it you know the prisoner has escaped?” he said, clearly purring with happiness that his brother had been injured.

“ _The bitch threw me through the window and shot me with my rifle. I've been unconscious for hours and the prisoner has likely been having a field day – while you're standing inside, dull as a post, instead of out looking for her?!_ ” she barked, spitting with her anger.

Rey focused on Ánci's emotional state and tried to match it, summoning forth her anger at her severance from Ben and staying perfectly invisible to Trudgen.

Trudgen merely laughed, cold and cruel.

“Forgive me if I'm merely following the Master's direct orders while he hunts down the girl himself. You know he's been longing for a challenge for ages.”

His speech suddenly stalled and he completely switched tracks. Rey breathed deep and silent, trying to calm herself and convince her mind she didn't have a racing heart.

“How did you manage to get back your rifle, Kuruk?” Trudgen bristled, face mask slamming up against his sister's.

Ánci didn't even flinch, just dug her heels in even deeper, pushing back against Trudgen's hulking mass, despite her blood now flowing freely from her leg wound.

“ _The prisoner didn't need my rifle to be armed – someone stole back the lightsaber Vicrul took from the deserter and delivered it right to her hands with the aid of the Force._ ” Rey could almost hear the grin in Ánci's voice, as she realized Ánci had been the one to deliver the means of her escape to her. “ _It seems the deserter must have snuck into the palace under your watchful eye after all, Trudgen._ ”

The hulking, rancor-like man exploded, shoving Ánci roughly away.

“IMPOSSIBLE!” he roared, stalking away from her, shoulders heaving “I WOULD HAVE SEEN HIM, SMELLED HIM EVEN!! I WILL FIND HIM, BROTHER, KILL HIM WHERE HE STANDS – YOU MARK MY WORDS!!!” He was so loud with his screaming that he clipped the sound-receiver on his voice modulator.

Unsheathing his vibrocleaver from the straps on his back, Trudgen charged back into the belly of the palace, blood-thirsty with purpose, a predator on the hunt.

Ánci chuckled in her head as they proceeded forward, the hallways now deserted.

_If there's one thing you can always count on, it's Trudgen's ability to lose his mind with rage at the slightest insult._

They proceeded up the spiral staircase, encountering no other difficulties until they reached the top floor, Rey staying right in Ánci's shadow, her meditative state unwavering.

At the top they spotted Ap'lek down the hallway, executioner's ax already drawn, aura dark with thoughts of murdering his targets.

Ánci whipped around the corner and out of sight – preferring stealth to making up some other excuse for her presence there – her soft-soled boots coming in handy as her steps were silent, despite the slight hitch in her step, her skill with the Force concealing her presence the rest of the way.

Ánci had to rip a door off its hinges down the hall from Ap'lek to send him running and distract him from the engine room door creaking open and shut – but it mattered not.

They'd made it inside.

“ _The comms were all gathered up and taken here,_ ” said Ánci, pointing at the white, plastic box in the corner.

Rey eased herself out of meditation and became corporeal again. She strode forward, calling her flashlight to her hand from her abandoned toolbox, lifting the lid on the storage crate and snatching up the nearest comm. She whipped the flashlight around, checking for any telltale signs of damage or destruction – but as far as she could tell, Ushar had merely turned the power off.

“ _You'll need to call immediately once the power comes back on – establish the out-going connection before you flip the switch._ ” advised Ánci, keeping one eye on the door.

Rey typed in the channel ID for Poe's direct comm, and released the flashlight to float by her ear. Opening the fuse box's door she flipped the _Main Power_ switch, making the light bulbs flare to life in the dark room, and made the call.

Poe's answering scream was one part panic, one part relief.

“ _Rey!!! Thank goodness, you're alive!!_ ”

“What do you mean 'I'm alive'?!” she exclaimed “I'm trying to comm you for help – how do you know I'm danger?!”

“ _Ben's tracker sent out a distress signal!_ ” Now Finn showed up on the palm-sized hologram “ _We're only two parsecs away – just hold on!!_ ”

“Woah, wait, hold on! Ben's not the problem – the Knights of Ren are here!! They've invaded the palace!! I only managed to escape because one of them dissented!” she explained, in a mad rush. “Ben must have broken the ankle-bracelet on purpose because he knew you'd come running to help!”

“ _The Knights of Ren?!_ ” Poe yelled from the other end, eyes wide with panic “ _How is that possible?! I thought you said they were DEAD?!_ ”

“So was Palpatine, Poe!” Rey reminded him. “Look – just whatever you do, if you see Ben, _don't shoot him!!_ He's just as much in danger as I am!!” Rey tossed her head from side-to-side, uncertain “But, if you see what looks like a tar-covered clone of Ben, _do_ shoot him, because he's the Knights new Master, and he's out to kill us both!”

“ _You've got to be kidding me, not more Force dark magic..._ ” Poe groaned in disbelief from the other end of the line. Luckily, Finn was faster on the up-take.

“ _Understood, Rey – we're coming to save you!!_ ” Finn exclaimed, and Rey shut off the call, dropping the comm and crushing it under her boot, ensuring the Knights would never know help was on the way.

She hated the idea of blowing up the generator room and wrecking all the hard work she'd done, but they still needed a distraction so Rey could reach across the bond to Ben and reassure her she was alright.

Ánci went first, poking her head out the door, then signaling an all-clear to Rey before charging to the other side of the hallway.

“ _Get behind that pillar!_ ” Ánci commanded, and Rey scrambled behind cover.

Loading plasma bolts into the blaster rifle's ammo chamber, Ánci took aim and fired two shots straight at the generator's gas tank.

The explosion rocked the palace, and even hidden behind the marble pillar, Rey felt the heat of the fireball singe the hairs on her arm. The two took off at a sprint towards the nearest hideaway – the library, several pairs of boots charging up the stairs after them.

Rey's mind went across the dyad at light-speed as they dove behind a shelf just in time, her thoughts alongside Ben's faster than the human mind could comprehend.

_Ben, I escaped, I'm alright!_ she yelled.

* * * * *

At that exact moment, Ben was stalking Ushar among the rows of plant-life in the front gardens, crouched low and looking for his opening to strike – keeping one eye constantly on the skies for the tell-tale signs of rescue.

For the moment, he could only spot the silver halo of sunlight glancing off the unmistakable silhouette of the Knight's _Oubliette_ -class transport, _The Night Buzzard_ , parked in Naboo's upper atmosphere.

He heard the distant explosion from the palace and whipped around, holding his breath, mind ablaze with panic and assuming the worst.

Then Rey was screaming at him in his mind and he fell to his knees, biting down on his knuckles hard to keep from crying out.

He'd never been so happy to hear her voice, his vision blurring slightly with tears.

_Rey!! You're okay?!_ he yelled back, elated.

_Yes, not a scratch on me – and you'll never guess who I'm with! Kuruk's secretly been_ _Á_ _nci all along, she helped me escape!_

Ben's mind went blank with shock.

_Say that again Rey?!_

_I'm sorry, I can't stay for long – Kylo's monitoring me in the Force and I don't want him to find you. Just know that I'm alright, and we'll be right with you!! And whatever you do – don't kill Cardo!_ _Á_ _nci_ _thinks she might be able to help him!_

Ben had little time to dwell on the bizarre turn of events as the _Falcon_ burst out light-speed and rocketed through the atmosphere like a meteor – thoroughly distracting Ushar.

Ben seized his opportunity and vaulted over the hedgerow, lightsaber igniting and skewering him through the chest. Ushar's body fell off the blade, limp and unmoving, and Ben charged down the courtyard, trying to flag down the ship.

In a matter of minutes, the _Falcon_ was touching down right in front of him.

It was only as the hatch opened up and the gangplank lowered that Ben recalled he was still a wanted criminal, and whether friend or foe was aboard that piece of garbage mattered little.

All those aboard knew was that Ben's tracker had sent out a distress signal and then gone silent – likely from being destroyed.

Without hesitation, he extinguished his mother's lightsaber and tossed into the bushes, holding up his hands in the universal sign of surrender.

He paled as the ramp lowered to reveal Finn and Dameron, emerging blasters first, sights trained on him.

Finn slightly lowered the barrel of his blaster and sprinted towards him.

“Where's Rey?” he said, tone low and threatening.

“I'm not sure, but Finn, you have to listen to me – you have no idea the danger you two are in-!”

“Lucky for you, Rey contacted us and we do have an idea, Solo.” interjected Poe.

“Contacted-” Ben said, mind racing, head whipping back in the direction of the palace “She must've turned the power back on in the engine room – all the comms were dead earlier!”

“You mean she's still inside?!” Finn exclaimed, charging ahead without further question, Poe following in hot pursuit.

Ben hesitated for a moment before calling his mother's saber back to him out of the underbrush and charging after the war heroes.

“So you know then I'm not the reason Rey's life is danger?” Ben yelled as they sprinted towards the front door, flanking left and heading for the side of the palace.

They slowed as they approached a glass side door, Finn peering covertly inside.

“Believe me, Ren – if Rey hadn't told us about the Knights, I would've shot you the second I saw you.” Finn glared, his tone making adamant that the alliance between them was tenuous at best.

Ben sighed.

“Good to know,” he muttered, sarcastically, as he let Rey's two closest friends lead the charge.

They'd barely taken a few steps inside when they turned a corner and came face to face with Vicrul, vibrating scythe blade stopping an inch away from Poe's nose.

But it was Ben whom Vicrul's attention went to.

“Well, deserter, it seems as if your luck has run its course.”


	19. XVIII.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war of attrition commences.  
> *Cue Duel of the Fates*
> 
> This chapter contains mentions of body horror.

XVIII.

Vicrul's scythe whipped back in the blink of a human eye, but Ben was there to meet the blow with a block from his lightsaber and save Poe's neck, the blades singing at the violent clash.

Finn and Poe set their blasters on Vicrul as best they could, trying to avoid shooting Ben as the former allies traded fast blows, the familiar rhythm from their years and years of sparring matches coming back to Ben along keenly refined muscle memory.

The laser blasts from the war heroes did little more than singe Vicrul's leather armor – he didn't even flinch at the burning shots.

The scythe and saber collided with a screech and held, spitting and screaming against each other as Ben tried to unbalance his opponent by force.

“Did you honestly think that your desertion wouldn't be met with consequences? That you could just walk away from us unscathed?” Vicrul grunted, trying to bait Ben into one of his old rages.

“You can change your colors all you like, brother, but the blood in your veins will always be a Knight's!”

Ben, in a move Vicrul would have never anticipated from his days as Kylo Ren, relented, spinning out of range of the scythe as it slammed into the marble, and attacking the weakest part of Vicrul's armor – the flimsy boots protecting his ankles.

The roar of pain and the smell of burned flesh were nauseating, but Ben would not break focus.

“Forgive me, Vicrul, if I don't blindly follow whoever bears the title of leader like you do.” Ben retorted. He could feel the masked Knight's anger flare in the Force, but it wasn't enough to unbalance him.

Now that Poe and Finn knew his weakness, Vicrul couldn't turn his back to them as they fired at his legs and he had to block their blasts and Ben's advances simultaneously. His scythe became a dark spiral as it whirled through the air and attempted to fight on two fronts, the foes circling around each other like well-trained fencers.

Poe, making a bold move, attempted to close in on Vicrul – not so close that his scythe could reach him, but close enough that the time Vicrul had to the react to his shots was much shorter.

Vicrul was growing frantic, trying to deflect Poe's shots with the Force, sending the lasers flying and forcing Finn to duck for cover behind a column. A single shot from Poe, however, got through and hit Vicrul's weeping wound. He stumbled with a grunt and fell against an ornate side table, attempting to regain his balance.

Poe wasted no time – leveling Vicrul with shot after shot, starting to break through the leather at his shoulders and chest and finally pissing him off. He closed the distance between them.

“ _Enough, rebel scum!!_ ” he growled, an unexpected punch against his shoulder throwing off the quick downward slash of his scythe and it stuck in the tile harmlessly. Poe, always more accustomed to fist-fights anyhow from his spice-running days, aimed a kick squarely at Vicrul's chest.

He fell back on his injured ankle and onto the table, where Ben readily planted the hilt of his saber and ran him through with the blade.

Poe cracked a grin in victory.

“Nice moves, Solo.”

Ben gave him a crooked grin and a one shouldered shrug – he was far from used to such blatantly warm comradery.

However, the fatal blow brought relief to the fighters only for a moment, as Vicrul suddenly reached behind him, seizing Ben by the scruff of his neck, and slammed his head against the table, peeling himself off the blade and whipping around.

Poe cried out in surprise, aiming one blast after another at the most exposed parts of Vicrul's armor to no avail – the Knight moving relentlessly forward, attempting to recollect his fallen weapon.

He never made it back to his scythe.

Despite the sudden dizzy spell, Ben's aim was rapid and true as he cut Vicrul in half at the waist, and lobbed off his head before his body hit the floor for good measure.

Out of breath, Ben stared wide-eyed at his former pupil and subservient, watching as his body sparked and twitched, loose wires flaring, and finally stilled.

“What the hell?!” Finn exclaimed, immediately emerging from cover and voicing their collective thoughts.

Ben groaned in frustration.

“Curse Palpatine and his affinity to save everything from death by turning it into a machine.” he said, huffing, teeth gritted.

Poe laughed humorlessly.

“So you're telling me that the Knights are not only powerful, Force-sensitive Sith, they're _cyborgs now too?_ ”

Ben could only reflect his frustration and horror back at him.

“It just means we have to hit them with everything we've got,” said Finn, trading a conspiratorial glance with Poe.

Dameron's eyes gleamed in understanding.

“I'm on it, Finn!” said Poe, turning and heading back the way they came, “just find Rey and try to force the others onto the roof – I'll take care of the rest!” he said, taking off at a sprint.

Ben and Finn traded skeptical glances with each other, but nevertheless continued their persistent march down the hallway. The invasion of the palace was only just getting started.

They were at the foot of the main staircase when they were spotted again.

“ _ **TRAITOR!!!**_ ” Trudgen roared, spotting them from across the room and charging towards them.

Ben couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of his old, self-proclaimed rival.

“Oh _shit_ ,” he said, lips curling in disdain, leaping over one side of the railing as Finn vaulted over the other, just managing to avoid the bone-breaking impact of Trudgen's vibrocleaver.

If there was one Knight Ben had never been able to stand, it was louder-than-thunder Trudgen.

Trudgen hefted his blade over his shoulder with an animalistic growl, and Ben switched to a back-hand hold on his saber – the only way to meet the hefts of Trudgen's broad-sword swings was with equal strength and power.

The shame was, Ben had to sacrifice his valuable speed to gain more power. Trudgen was like a beast unhinged, meeting every blow with a bellow like a Rathtar that had caught the scent of blood. The clangs and rings of their blades – the vibrocleaver and lightsaber proving to be an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object – were loud enough to make Ben's teeth ache.

Finn tried leveling shots against Trudgen too, but they proved as useless as they had been against Vicrul.

He watched helplessly from the sidelines as Ben started to weaken – Rey had been a tough sparring partner to be sure, but she didn't possess this much brute strength.

With a lucky fake that would have made his father proud, Ben just managed to graze Trudgen's shoulder and make him scream with rage.

Ben used this moment of pained distraction to send his voice careening into Finn's mind, knowing the former Storm Trooper wouldn't break under the invasion.

He'd very much been listening when Finn had told Rey he was Force-sensitive.

_Make yourself useful, Finn! Start taunting him, distract him, do something, anything, to make him mad!_ Ben yelled in his head in the brief second he had before Trudgen's onslaught continued, more furious than before.

Trudgen was practically foaming at the mouth, his noises guttural and wet and sickening to hear.

_You want me to piss him off even more?!_ Finn exclaimed, only needing a second to adjust to Ben's voice inside his head.

Ben had a long enough moment to level him with a glare as Trudgen just barely missed him, the floor shaking with the impact of the reverberating blow.

_Fine!!_ Finn yelled, and psyched himself up for the suicide mission, thinking of his need to save Rey and letting the fear of her in danger fuel him.

“ _HEY!! BLOW-HARD!_ ” he screamed at Trudgen, breaking through the wall of his rage momentarily, making him puzzled. “IF IT'S A TRAITOR YOU WANT TO GO AFTER, LOOK NO FURTHER – SECOND DIVISION SHOCK TROOPER – FN-2187, RIGHT HERE!”

Trudgen wrested his blade from the floor, bringing up to block the strike from Ben's saber, the heat and metal meeting in a screaming hiss.

Trudgen didn't even pay Finn the courtesy of glancing his way.

This wasn't going to work.

Finn seethed, his mind counting down the tenuous seconds of Rey's continued safety. He _had_ to do something.

How to get his attention?

Suddenly, the lights came on.

In a moment of pure instinct, Finn thrust out his hand in front of him. Trudgen stumbled, thrown off balance as the Force tripped him up.

“LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU, BUCKET-HEAD!” Finn said, a surge of success fueling him.

“ _ **STAY OUT OF THIS PADAWAN!**_ ” grunted the rancor-man, shoving his free palm his way and sending Finn flying back-

But only a foot or so.

Ben caught him and steadied him, arm also outstretched. Finn regained his balance easily.

Finn caught his breath with a gasp and stared at his old enemy – surprised but not displeased.

Ben's focus, however, was on the fight.

He grinned wolfishly at his old rival.

“What's wrong, Trudgen? Having difficulty taking on multiple foes, just like you always did?” he wheedled, using Trudgen's moment of distraction to slice across his chest – revealing a sparking, hollow cavity of circuits and panels, the wires fiery with simulated pain.

Trudgen's roar left both their ears ringing.

The back-handed, lashing blow of his vibrocleaver that Trudgen leveled at Ben's head would have sliced it cleanly in two, had Finn not seen the move coming and thrown Ben across the room with the Force.

Trudgen rounded on him, bewildered just for a moment.

Finn was on him in a second, gripping his shoulder and firing his blaster away into the open cavity of Trudgen's chest with a roar, oil and blood spewing forth as his torso caught fire.

Trudgen was too battered and the shots were too relentless for him to heft his ton-weight weapon again, but he had strength enough left to wrap his fingers tight around Finn's throat and wrench the blaster from his hand.

_FINN!_ Ben yelled in his mind.

Finn just barely caught the flash of silver flying his way, but he didn't need to see the saber to catch it – the Force guided the hilt right to his hand.

In one smooth diagonal motion, Finn ignited the saber and severed the Knight from shoulder to hip.

Finn peeled the twitching fingers from his throat and coughed violently as he stumbled back and fell, his mind yelling in instinctual warning as he skidded back along the floor, shoved himself against the wall and threw up his arms around himself, protectively.

A moment later, the cavity of Trudgen's chest exploded in a vicious fireball, small but the heat searing and akin to a star.

Finn lowered his arms, heaving as Trudgen's mechanical corpse burned to a crisp.

Ben, pale with surprise, stood and gave the bonfire a wide berth, stopping in front of Finn and offering him his hand.

Finn stared at it for long, still moment.

He extinguished the blade of the saber and clasped onto Ben's wrist, letting him pull him off the floor.

“I think you'll be needing this,” he said returning Ben's saber with the tiniest twitch of a smile, calling his abandoned blaster back to his hand as easily as if he'd been Force-pulling objects around his whole life.

Ben's crooked grin was quite the bizarre sight for the former Storm Trooper to behold.

“If you can already manipulate the Force, I'd hate to see what becomes of your skills with some proper training.”

Finn frowned, still just trying to wrap his head around his new reality.

“That was a joke, right?”

Ben's expression soured and he rolled his eyes.

Finn didn't even have time to shoot him a “gotcha” smile before they heard the sound of a painfully familiar scream of strain from upstairs.

Eyes-wide, they sprinted up the stairs two at a time.

The sight at the top of the stairs sent Ben's heart careening against his rib cage.

Rey had crossed blades with Kylo – his old saber spitting and screaming with rage as Kylo's yellow eyes flashed like hellfire, smile a violent silhouette, and pushed down against Rey's saber with brutal force, making her scream with the effort of just barely holding him back.

The dark shadow flew down the hallway with such Force that the impact of his body cracked the marble pillar he hit.

“Not this time, you bastard,” Ben snarled, lowering his hand.

Rey's relieved smile at the sight of him was sunlight incarnate and he had little say in the matter of reflecting her happiness back at her. Their bond rejoiced as their energies reached out to each other, twin flames flickering and fluttering in tandem once again, souls curled tight around one another.

The moment didn't last – as one Knight fell, another arose to replace him.

Ap'lek rounded the corner and almost sent Ben flying with a jut of his hand in turn.

Finn Force-threw the nearest ornate pot at the executioner's head, distracting him enough for Ben to catch himself and regain his footing.

One set of exchanged glances and Ben and Rey charged at Ap'lek in tandem, forcing him to fight on two fronts, his Mandalorian ax giving him an unfortunate amount of coverage as they slashed at him from both sides.

But their trading, mirrored blows were relentless, and eventually even the beskar-reinforced staff cracked under the pressure of their blades working in unison. Ap'lek cast aside the unbalanced end of the ax with a dull growl, continuing his assault one handed without breaking stride.

The crackling of their blades harmonized as they cracked down on Ap'lek together, pushing with slashes and cuts-to-the-head that were forcing him to back up. They nearly had him cornered when Finn yelled behind them.

“GUYS!” he screamed. Ben whipped around to the sight of his dark shadow on his feet again.

Ben sprinted to meet his double with a new fiery hatred in his belly, lightsabers zinging and hissing against each other as quick jabs and slashes were exchanged like insults.

“Shame I couldn't find the little scavenger earlier – had I known putting her in danger would have drawn you so immediately out of hiding, I would have done it sooner,” his dark mirror leered in the split-light of their blades.

It took strength Ben knew not he had to keep from exploding in that moment and turning back to his old rage – let it course through him like a heated, heady liquor.

His shadow merely grinned broader and cut back, forcing Ben to go on the defensive as he began a rapid assault, every blow going for his head or his heart or his sword arm. Kylo was relentless and savage.

But Ben was smarter.

They drew the two battles closer and closer together until him and Rey were back to back. Just when both seemed the most tied down – they whirled around and exchanged foes, completely catching them off guard as the dyad met the blows with renewed strength.

They began playing off each other as only they knew how.

When Rey blocked, Ben pushed back against her and put added force behind it. When Ben assaulted, Rey reached around his shoulder to land an additional stab or cut. When she dodged, he lent her his back to fall against and roll off of. When he launched himself forward, it was with the aid of her sturdy shoulders.

Their bond was alive with fire as together, they severed Ap'lek's sword arm from his body and oil spewed grotesquely all over the floor.

Kylo's eyes could have pierced them with his rage.

_End this nonsense, Cardo!_ They could hear his hissing voice command in their minds.

The arm canon-equipped Cardo made himself known to the group, appearing down the opposite hall and taking aim at Rey.

“ _BEN!_ ” she yelled in warning, as Ap'lek's ax – wielded just as well by his non-dominant hand, even if he was weakened by the missing limb – clashed against her saber, missing his shoulders by inches, her attention completely diverted from the direct threat against her in the process.

Ben deflected the laser blasts that were a breath away from searing Rey's head with his saber, but couldn't shove Cardo aside with the Force as Kylo's blade screeched against his again.

Finn shot at Cardo to no avail beyond distracting him.

Ben's heart seized with panic as it seemed Rey's skull was about to be blasted open.

Suddenly, a shot from overhead hit the light fixture near Cardo, creating a electric explosion strong enough to knock him instantly unconscious.

Finn's attention shot to an over-head balcony, landing on Kuruk in a sniper's stance.

Kylo spotted the betrayal in an instant and let out a guttural roar, but hadn't time to react as Kuruk's aim was flawless – hitting him straight in the chest and bringing him to his knees.

Only Ap'lek's dogged persistence and a well aimed hit to Ben's calf kept him from decapitating his double in that moment.

Ben cried out and crumpled as Ap'lek rounded him and hauled his Master to his feet and they escaped in a hasty retreat, fleeing down the hallway as Kylo's roar of “ _DON'T TOUCH ME!_ ” echoed off the walls.

Rey was too busy healing Ben's leg, hands on his shoulders and eyes shut tight to notice Finn take aim at the sharp-shooter.

“NO, FINN, SHE'S WITH US!” Ben yelled a moment too late, too disoriented by the biting pain to stay Finn's hand.

Finn's aim was true and the blast rocked the balcony, the construction not intended to see the days of war, collapsing with a well-placed shot in the center of the floor. Kuruk fell with the crash of the banister and roar of the rubble to their level.

The second Ben's leg could support his weight, he and Rey raced to her side.

Ben's gaze softened as the sharp-shooter groaned in pain, clutching her ribs, leg resting at an unnatural angle, voice modulator's wiring clearly having been knocked loose, as the touchy thing popped with static.

Ben searched for the catch-like switches at the sides of the mask – so similar to how his had been, and freed the sharp-shooter from anonymity, revealing the face of his childhood friend and her rumpled fiery hair.

She grimaced, eyes scrunched with tears of pain she wouldn't let fall.

“Hello Solo,” she murmured, voice weary and jaded as his had once been “Fancy seeing you again.”

Ben exchanged a quick look with Rey and the decision was already made.

“We'll do what we can for you for the time being. We promise we'll come back for you, Ánci.” he said, squeezing her limp hand.

“Yes,” she smiled vaguely “go kill those bastards for me.” she murmured.

They sent what healing energies they could into Ánci's body, healing the most life threatening among them – namely the internal bleeding – and sent her body into a deep sleep to conserve her energies.

Any more effort on their part, and they surely would have passed out as well.

They hid her unconscious form in the nearest room and sprinted down the hall towards the window the other two had escaped from.

Only Finn's acute hearing picked up on the rapid beeping – and a second too late.

“STOP!!!” he screamed, but it mattered not.

The force of the explosion blew them through the window, and Ushar could be heard openly laughing as they felt rapidly towards the ground along with the gilded frame and sparkling glass.

However, two of the three of them were having absolutely none of it.

Finn's yelp of surprise turned into a whoop of victory as Rey and Ben easily reversed their descent with the Force and deposited them lightly on the rooftop, between a large stretch of flat, ivory roof between two of the larger green domes.

Ap'lek and Kylo's assault was instant and vicious, and Rey and Ben quickly found themselves separated and in the fight of their lives, unable to assist one another as they had to frantically block the blows of their opponents.

Finn tried to aim shots at Ap'lek when he could, but quickly found he had his own problems to deal with when Ushar appeared suddenly on the roof behind him.

Sure, the bombs were frightening enough, but Finn found himself pumped full of adrenaline and thinking he could take this one – his hand-to-hand weapon was just a flimsy-looking club after all.

“You the rookie or something?” Finn taunted, eyes flashing “'Cause otherwise, you really got the short end of the stick in the weapons department.”

Ushar didn't deign to hurl an insult back. He simply brought down his club on the barrel of Finn's blaster.

The resulting shock-wave and blaring sonic attack threw Finn clean across the roof and left his ears ringing.

“ _FINN!_ ” Rey cried, equal parts fear and vitriolic anger. She seethed at Ap'lek, having had just about enough of his one-handed assault.

Thinking quick on her feet, she wrestled out of his sudden choke-hold by extinguishing her lightsaber and ducking, transferring her hold on the hilt only to ignite the saber again from below, cutting Ap'lek cleanly in two, the tip of her saber piercing the dome of his skull.

She drew up and the halves of his bloody, oily body collapsed as she whipped around to face Ushar.

The baradium charge in his hand was already shrieking with its rapid beeps.

He merely sauntered closer to her, not tossing the thing away, shocking her.

“You're bluffing!” she yelled, and she could feel Ushar smirk, his voice coming out disturbingly mechanical.

“ _Once you've already been blow up, it kind of loses its sting._ ” Ushar grumbled, his accent heavy.

He was about to charge her when Finn screamed in both of their minds.

_GET DOWN!!_

In the nick of time, the _Falcon_ appeared over the lip of the roof and blew Ushar sky-high with a well-placed shot, the bomb exploding harmlessly in the air.

The same could not be said for Ushar.

Ben forced Kylo away from him with a grin and him and Rey both hit the deck, as Chewie – clearly visible in the gunner's seat, focused all his fire power on the shade.

Every shot hit, and his black goop dripped freely from his chest to pool at his knees.

However, Kylo remained standing, angry energy crackling.

He shot a bolt of lightning from his hand and the _Falcon's_ engines instantly exploded, rocking the palace and forcing Poe into an emergency landing.

The roof shuddered and started to give – the weak points in the opulent architecture revealing themselves under the pressure.

The cracks splintered and flared and the entire group took off for the edge of the roof at a dead-sprint, leaping off without hesitation.

Rey and Ben slowed their descents easily enough, tucking and rolling as they touched back down on earth, but as they abruptly turned to assist Finn, Ben just barely managed to throw up his guard as Kylo careened out of the sky, going straight for an assassinating, skewering stab.

Ben threw him over his head and into the water as Rey was left to catch Finn alone – the sounds of the battle furious behind her.

The second Finn was safe on solid ground, Rey whipped around.

They'd progressed onto the water, steps light and clean on the surface, as if they were walking on ice, a disturbingly juxtaposed calm to the fury of their roaring and fizzling blades out for blood.

Rey had her mind set on learning how to walk on water, herself – today, at a run – when Finn's shriek of horror distracted her.

She turned back and screamed herself.

Lady Palpatine, the Dark Empress, was doing what could be best described as melting down the stairs towards her – rippling and constantly changing her grotesque, barely-human shape to remain standing, limbs turning over limbs as she undulated forward.

It would have been a bizarre image, if she hadn't been moving so heart-poundingly fast towards her, fingers spread like razor-sharp claws.

And Rey could only too vividly remember how much that horrid pus had burned when the tiny amount on the needle had touched her arm.

Rey threw up her lightsaber with a scream, the Empress shrieking at the contact with the heat – but refusing to let go despite the burn. Wrapping her sinewy essence around the blade, she tried to rend it from Rey's hands by force.

Despite how her muscles screamed, Rey refused to relent.

Finn shot at her back and the shadow shrieked with rage.

“ _STAY out_ **of THIS!!** ” Lady Palpatine said, voice warping horribly between Rey's and her own dark droll like a malfunctioning voice-box.

One sinewy arm shot out latched onto Finn's face, burning him horribly and throwing him hard against the palace wall.

Rey's heart shot into her throat when he stayed prone on the ground – not even twitching.

She took the opportunity to break free of Lady Palpatine's one-handed grip and slash at her sides, her head, her chest – anywhere she could reach – Rey's rage blinding and a white-hot roar in her ears. Each hit caused the oozing Lady Palpatine great pain, but seemed to cause her little serious injury. Clearly, what she lacked in a human body in this form, she made up for in additional resilience.

...And she could feel Ben growing weary through the bond as he met blow after blow from his own dark opponent.

Even he wasn't super human.

Fear pulsed through her like electricity.

Rey tried to cut her foe in half and run, only for the beast to swarm her two halves around her and meld back together behind her – standing between her and Ben, grinning like a hungry Nexu feline that had found an easy next meal.

“Not _getting away_ **from me** _ **that**_ EASILY!” Lady Palpatine cackled, sounding a bit too much like Rey's grandfather.

Rey slashed at her with new fury, forcing her onto the water, vaguely hoping the creature would melt in such a pure element – but alas, no luck. She just kept forcing her back and back _and back_ , somehow managing to skate along atop the water like a skimmer, but her shade would only move a few feet at a time with the force of her blows, and Ben was now nearly at the other end of the lake, dark hair and saber flying as it parried Kylo's.

Lady Palpatine laughed mockingly, sensing all of Rey's vivid fear.

“ **Never** _ **gonna**_ _reach_ HIM in _time!_ I PROMISED _you_ _ **you'd**_ **WATCH him** DIE!!” she screeched, the taste of victory sweet, even on her acid covered, bubbling lips, eyeballs sliding out of her sockets like mucous.

Even in her state of desperation and rage, Rey managed to clear her head for one vital moment, and remember one of the most important lessons she'd learned while in exile.

There was always a bigger fish.

She reached into her feelings, and deep down – deep, deep down into the abyss, asking for help.

Intoning for it, pleading for it.

With the promise of something in return this time.

Lady Palpatine never saw it coming.

The tentacle burst from the water and seized her in its beskar grip, water spraying everywhere.

The start of her final scream was dulled as she was dragged down, muffled by the water.

But such darkness, pulsing with rage, couldn't simply vanish without a fight.

The Empress' dark, sinewy arm shot up from below, stretching to supernatural lengths, and sunk her claws into Rey and pulled, drawing five long scratches across Rey's chest from shoulder to thigh as the beast was dragged to the depths, her doppelganger's screams silenced completely as her signature vanished from the Force.

The only sound that greeted her from below was the infrasonic hum of pleasure and thanks from the leviathan at the uniquely powerful and profoundly satisfying meal.

Rey dimly felt the beast promptly return to the peaceful nap he'd been enjoying.

She sucked in a rattling breath and fell to her knees.

The pain reverberated down the dyad like the shock-waves of a bomb, and burned twice as bright in Ben's mind.

He snapped, drawing his saber up in an upper-cut that brutally lacerated Kylo's left shoulder.

Ben turned tail and practically flew across the water.

His throat burned hoarsely as he screamed her name but his brain didn't process the sound himself as his legs pumped numbly in an all-out sprint.

He fell to his knees at her side, vision already blurring, saber hissing away as made contact with the water but refused to sink.

“ _Sun-rey..._ ” he choked out, the long murky, marring trails of rippling black tar painful to look at as he cradled her neck, her face, felt the unbearable quiet of her spirit on her side of the bond.

He paid no mind to the tears when they fell, except to wipe them away with the pad of his thumb when a few strayed onto her still warm cheeks.

His shuddering breath was filled with heated, burning purpose as he clutched her face between his hands, already pouring his energies into her.

“ _Don't go this way, you're stronger than this, I know it._ ” he hissed, his own sunlight blinding him with its ferocity.

“ _Sweetheart, please, fight this...Damn it, Rey, don't leave me alone!_ ” he sobbed, his voice breaking.

Two things happened in quick succession.

First, the hum of awareness came back to Rey's aura – steady and sure but heart-breakingly quiet.

Second, Kylo settled the point of his spitting saber by his ear, a breath away from his neck.

“Get up and face me, coward,” Kylo murmured, more of an order than a threat.

Rage burned magma hot in Ben's stomach, making his tears evaporate as picked up his abandoned saber and turned to face his dark mirror.

Her eyes were still closed when he turned his back on his beloved.

“Gutted, aren't you?” Kylo said, as casually as if he were conversing about the weather, not Ben's fallen partner “Shame to have your focus so shattered. And at the last second too.”

He wasted no time. Kylo whirled his blade around, his assault rapid and brutal as it twirled around in front of his torso, switched from hand to hand, whipped over his head. Ben desperately tried to deflect each swipe, but he couldn't keep pace with the shade's speed. He struck back with one last ditch effort of brute strength, aiming for his shade's exposed chest, only to be easily deflected.

The red saber finally struck true, cutting deep into Ben's right shoulder and left knee, forcing him to keel over, the wounds agonizing.

The lightsaber he had once been sole master of vibrated just inches from his bared throat, hissing and snapping with bloody victory like the sparking essence of his shadow.

“You could have beat me at any time,” Ben realized with vivid horror. “Why? Why draw it out and not kill me when my back was turned?” he asked, trying to buy time for whatever measly additional seconds he could add to his life, voice throaty and raw.

Kylo shook his head, glaring with undisguised disappointment.

“How the mighty have fallen.” he spat “The Ben Solo I was given the memories of still recalled the pleasure of the hunt, of facing down a worthy opponent.” He simpered.

“Of course, it comes as no great shock that love has weakened you. If only you hadn't fallen pray to it, you could've joined my ranks anew, and at a high station too. Given the path you've chosen, you have no other option but to fall to my blade. Kylo Ren always was your superior.”

Even as Ben felt his body lock-up, dousing any hope of using the Force to save himself, a resilient part of his previously cold soul flared indignantly, violently.

“No. He wasn't.” he spat, making Kylo cock his head to the side in mild curiosity.

“He hid behind his anger, tried to fill his wounds of loneliness with ambition and greed, but it was never enough. No matter how deeply he indulged, no matter how much he took, he was a poor Sith in his lack of faith.”

Kylo's laugh was like a faulty steam pipe bursting a leak.

“A lack of _faith?!_ You can't be serious! His belief in the dark side was absolute! His loyalty to his Master – unwavering!! How can you argue that _he lacked faith?!_ ”

Ben grimaced.

“That's the problem with believing you'll never amount to anything – you carry it with you no matter where you go, no matter who you become.”

Kylo's brow twitched, just the slightest of movements.

But Ben knew then that he had him. He persisted, hazel eyes gleaming like little flames, though fresh tears sprung into them unasked for.

“What you call weakness, shade, I call strength. Because let me tell the secret when it comes to love – it is power purified. Unlike the dark, it asks for nothing but you, exactly as you are. And while the dark will tear you down until there is nothing left, love and light build a fortress on a barren foundation until your darkest beliefs crack and dissolve into nothing.”

Kylo glared, trying to stay the flow of his words, but Ben's silver tongue wouldn't obey the Force until he was good and finished.

“The difference between Kylo and I, is that he'll never know the unbelievable strength of self-assurance. He'll _never_ have security in who he is.”

Ben chuckled, tonelessly, like a man who had nothing to lose.

“And because of a fool-hardy, loving dyad, if you can believe it, _I_ somehow found that.”

It was a moment – more of a millisecond really.

Kylo Ren blinked, stuttered.

Tilted the point of the roaring blade just slightly away from Ben's neck.

The disbelief froze on his face.

That moment was all Rey needed.

With a triumphant bellow, she appeared, corporeally, instantly between them, ejecting herself from the hiding place she'd found in Ben's aura, and stabbed Kylo in the stomach, his shocked expression frozen on his face.

The Force hold on Ben broke, and he shot to his feet, letting his primal drive guide his blade straight into the monster's tar-blackened heart.

A tiny sigh escaped Kylo's soot-darkened, mercurial lips, and the burning pyre in his ember eyes died instantly, the yellow orbs growing cold.

Ben withdrew his blade with a grunt and Kylo's already dissolving mass disappeared below the waves, the furious red saber falling to the dark abyss as well, twirling in the current until even its relentless scarlet glow faded from sight.

Ben stood on the water, breathing heavily for a moment, adrenaline alone keeping him on his feet.

He slowly turned to Rey and shed a relieved smile. An exhausted smile. An “I love you so much” smile, without any fanfare.

Tears sprung to her eyes readily as she nodded her ascent – yes, I think it's over. I believe we've done it.

“Do I even need to ask 'how,' anymore?” Ben hiccupped, tears flowing freely. Rey shed a watery smile, and tore open her top, revealing the dark additional armor underneath.

“Ánci's vest didn't stop me from passing out from the toxic burn,” Rey grimaced “but if it weren't for the vest,” she said, pulling apart the violent tears to reveal five tiny pale scars on her stomach, the only evidence that she'd been marred at all “I would've easily been ripped to ribbons.”

“In that case, I'll have to spend my meditations thanking each and every star for her, for a good long while,” Ben murmured, extinguishing the blade of his lightsaber and opening his arms to her.

Rey stowed her weapon too and fell into his embrace, her knight hugging her crushingly close with his good arm, her aura already dancing across his and healing his wounds, as naturally as breathing, blinking, her heart beating alongside his.

He decided then and there, laughing deliriously with relief, nose pressed into her messy, fly-away, brown hair, that if she let him, he'd marry this girl.

This amazing, insane, crafty, stubborn, beautiful, wonderful girl, who, pretty clearly, was everything he could've ever possibly wanted or needed, and then some.

She pulled away to fix him with a messy, warm kiss that filled his chest to bursting with love.

She clutched his jaw in her palms, lightsaber resting between her fingers, cool against his neck, as she said something completely unexpected and utterly perfect.

“I'm so proud of you.” she said, grinning, as always, in that wide, mischievous, Rey-ish way.

He felt a surge of something hot and comforting in his chest and breathed out a laugh in disbelief.

“Thanks to you, I think...I kind of am, too...” he said, and to her credit, she didn't laugh at him – just kept smiling her twin-sun smile.

* * * * *

Of course, they went back and resuscitated Finn – no worse for wear despite his meeting with the brick wall and the Empress' hand – and systematically checked that the body of each Knight was still immobile before they declared victory and Poe stole into their supply of vintage champagne (though _that_ was quite a few hours after the fact).

After the body inspection and scrapping of the Knights, they finished healing up Ánci, and woke up both her and Cardo – making sure to slap the latter in cuffs beforehand.

They were forgiving, not stupid.

It was Ánci who relieved him of the welder's helmet, revealing a young man with skin the shade of burnt sienna, black hair and chocolate-colored eyes.

His jaw snapped after Ánci's wrist in a hopeless bid to bite her. She smacked him upside the head in turn.

Poe shrugged and proceeded with his brief questioning over the light meal of pasta and sausage Rey and Ben whipped up in an exhausted rush – Rey proceeding to immediately fall asleep against Ben's shoulder after the fact.

“Name?” Poe said, gaze piercing the Knight's armorer. Cardo wouldn't meet his eyes.

Ánci yanked on a hank of hair at the back of his head, forcing his chin up.

“Cardo Sibbelyn.” he snapped, eyes watering from the pain in his scalp.

“Age?” Finn asked, staring just as purposefully as his pilot best friend.

He was silent only for a moment before Ánci squeezed harder.

“Eighteen – cycles.” he choked out.

“At what age did you join the Knights?” Poe continued.

“Fourteen cycles.” he hissed.

“Parent's names?” Ben offered.

“Don't – remember.” Cardo grunted, and with a glance at the questioners, who had nothing else to ask, Ánci released his head, stepping away as the murderous glare he gave her threatened to burn holes in the back of her head.

Poe and Finn turned to Ben, and he nodded in confirmation – his probing of Cardo's mind skimming and light compared to Kylo's usual inspections.

“He's telling the truth, or at least what he understands to be true.” Ben said.

Poe sighed, glancing at Ánci.

“For you, I think we can make a compelling argument. Your assistance here, your history with Ben, and your corroborated story from your schooling records should all make it straight-forward enough for you to be released without charge.”

Finn interjected.

“At most, you might have to serve some time in the camps as a service charge.” he added.

“He, on the other hand, is going to be rather difficult to defend.” Poe said, shaking his head.

Ánci met their eyes with her usual igneous gaze.

“Just leave his defense to me. I know his whole story – I was there when he joined. I saw how much he just wanted a purpose, a place of belonging. He was as much a lost boy as Benny over here.” she said, nodding towards her childhood friend, making Finn start and snort at the nickname.

Ánci threw up her eyebrows indifferently.

“And as for the service, I'll gladly help you wipe out any remaining First Order bases, so long as you don't insist on keeping me on pay-roll indefinitely.” she said, turning and leaning against the counter, chewing on a carrot stick.

“Of course. We won't keep you longer than necessary,” Poe reassured. She nodded thoughtfully.

“I'd be looking to rebuild the Knights from the ground up afterwards, if it's all the same to you – maybe as more of a mercenary group – a legal, _registered_ mercenary group.” she specified, at a pointed look from Finn.

“You're always welcome to come refine your skills in the Force with us, once Rey and I establish a new temple.” Ben offered, out of the blue, looking her way.

Finn and Poe both exchanged shocked glances at this news.

The carrot almost fell out of Ánci's mouth.

But the rare, unpracticed grin that graced her lips was a welcome sight.

“I'll keep that in mind, troublemaker.” she said, snapping the carrot in two with her teeth, gesturing with the half she kept in her grip.

“For the time being though, I'm going to focus on looking after this one.”

Cardo glared her way, brow drooping in rage.

But between the over-sized leather armor on his small frame, and the youthful roundness in his face, the look just simply didn't have the intended effect.

In fact, it succeeded far more in making Finn bleed with empathy than draw back with caution.

After a few celebratory drinks and brief rest on Finn, Poe, and Chewie's part, they toted Cardo into the detention cell on the _Falcon_.

Finn approached the couple – Rey just having woken, still drowsy from sleep – with a replacement tracking bracelet for Ben.

Ben leaned down with a sigh to remove his boot, Rey already starting to object.

“Finn, after everything that's happened today, is that really necessary?” she asked. Finn could only silence her with a brief wink.

“Hold on, Solo.” said Finn, making Ben pause instantly at the use of his proper last name. Finn removed a sterile glass jar from his jacket pocket and unscrewed the lid. “Give me your wrist.”

Ben obeyed, bewildered, until Finn snapped on the too-large-bracelet and easily slid it off Ben's wrist again without unlocking it – dropping it directly into the saline-filled jar.

“Spit,” he ordered, and Ben, catching on, hacked into the jar readily.

Finn screwed it shut with a flippant grin and handed it over to Ben, shrugging at Rey's smile.

“What? It's locked and it's surrounded by his genetic signature. It's not like the Resistance will ever know the difference.”

“He could steal a ship and run off, anywhere. To any distant corner of the galaxy. You'd never be able to find him again.” Rey argued, playing devil's advocate.

“I'd be able to find _you!_ ” Finn countered, starting to laugh.

“Who says I'd go with him?!” Rey exclaimed.

The look Ben gave her was so convincingly wounded that the apology instantly rose to her lips.

At least, until his canines flashed and she had to smack him in the shoulder in recompense, his laugh low and jovial and a relief to hear again.

“My point exactly.” Finn said, saying goodbye with a little salute. “See you in a few days you two! May the Force be with you and all that!”

“And make sure to get that cube open!” Poe added over his shoulder as he stumbled up the ramp, Chewie roaring in agreement.

“We will!” Rey yelled.

Ánci stalled in front of them before following the group up the ramp. She'd borrowed a dark, wrap-around shift of Rey's – shedding her armor for the time being.

She looked human again.

“Best of luck, you two.” she said, opening her arms to Rey in a stilted fashion, starting when Ben joined in on the hug too.

“It's just goodbye for now, Ánci.” Ben said, towering over her, ridiculous and unexpectedly sweet.

They waved goodbye to the ship until the _Falcon_ jumped to light-speed in the upper atmosphere – _The Night Buzzard_ long since detained by Naboo's atmosphere patrol, it's silver silhouette gone from the setting-sun's vista.

Ben Solo and Rey Skywalker wandered back upstairs, reassembling and fixing whatever carnage and scars left in the palace along the way with the aid of the Force.

Then they promptly collapsed together on their giant bed and fell asleep.

They'd both had a really long day.


	20. XIX.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey puzzles over the final clue on the onyx box.
> 
> Ben begins working on a secret project.
> 
> Rey decides she's ready to take the next step in their relationship.

XIX.

Rey Skywalker stared at the onyx cube the next morning as Ben fried up breakfast like the box owed her credits.

Even when the piping plate of eggs, bacon, and pancakes was placed in front of her, Rey didn't break eye contact as she chewed her food.

“You're going to have to blink eventually, you know that, right?” Ben teased, making Rey roll her eyes.

“Don't judge me. You pace and mumble to yourself to help you sort out your problems, I stare them down. Both are valid methods of piecing together a solution.”

Ben grinned and practically inhaled his food in his rush to eat, distracting Rey from her musing.

“Are you in a hurry, smuggler?” she asked, making him chuckle.

“Just a bit. I want to work on something while you're still busy eating.”

This completely threw her through a loop.

“What?! Why?”

He swallowed roughly and scooped up his mug of tea, spinning around the island to plant a kiss on her cheek.

“So you're preoccupied and don't miss me too much while I'm gone?”

Rey's aura glimmered with rose and gold – humor and adoration in equal measures.

“Not 'why are you working while I'm eating,' but 'what do you even have to work _on_ in the first place'?!” she said with a snort.

His eyes twinkled and gave her pause.

“You'll find out soon enough. It's a surprise.”

She glowered at him, making him chuckle low in a way that made her stomach flip deliciously.

He clutched her face in his hands.

“I _promise_ you, that you won't have to wait more than a few days until you find out what it is.” he said, meeting her eyes.

“I'll hold you to that, my knight.”

He kissed her so sweetly that she almost begged him to stay.

“I'll be upstairs if you need me. _Don't_ come up looking for me – just yell if you need me!” he said, stalling on the steps “You know I'll hear you.”

The look he gave her made her flush compulsively and he raced upstairs with a wolfish grin on his lips.

Rey stayed behind, chewing slowly through her meal as she pondered. She was so immersed in her thoughts she was practically meditating with her eyes open.

At least, until lascivious thoughts of his kisses slipped into her mind and warmed her body deliriously.

“ _Tonight,_ ” she decided “ _barring any other attack from dark forces, or lake monsters, or some other unforeseen thing, I'll ask him if he'd like to try tonight._ ”

The thought filled her body with electric tension, a thrum of excitement and hope and nerves, all wrapped up in ball, and yet swimming and sifting intoxicatingly in her veins.

Could he feel her desires from upstairs, even without meaning to? she mused.

Probably best not to push him. What if his work was dangerous? She wouldn't want to him to get hurt because she was...well, indirectly trying to seduce him.

Her cheeks flared scarlet at the thought and she turned her attentions back to the box, tongue clicking impatiently.

“ _Light freely given_ ,” she mumbled, “What kind of light? Not normal sunlight or moonlight, that's for sure. There's no will behind those. It can't be freely given if no one's making the choice to give it.”

A tenuous thought crossed her mind.

“Could it mean light energy from the Force?” she sighed in defeat. “But we tried that already. But not on its own...”

Rey groaned and hung her head.

She bunched her lips to one side of her mouth.

“It has to be something just as valuable as the drop of blood – something just as sacrificial.”

She stared at her palm, and it hit her like lightning.

“ _Light freely given_ – life energy, the power given sacrificially to heal another!” she breathed, “Can it really be that easy?”

She placed her hand on the box and slipped into a meditative state.

She focused on the silver light within her, and sent a tiny sliver, a flash of her raw, blue-tinged energy into the box, as if she were trying to heal it of a paper-cut.

She jumped off her chair in surprise when the lid popped open under her palm, revealing six data chips therein, tinged blue and red, the gold glyphs vanishing into the varnish entirely.

She whooped in delight, jumping up and down ecstatically.

“ _BEN!!_ ” she screamed, grabbing the thing and charging upstairs at a dead-sprint.

She heard his boots squealing along the polished floor before she ran into him as he raced to meet her halfway.

“What it is?!” he said, panicked as he seized her shoulders.

“I did it!! I got it open!!” she squealed, handing him the cube as his eyes widened, joyful.

“How?! What did you do?!”

“I healed it of a minor wound – I gave it the tiniest piece of my light and it instantly opened!”

His smile was beautiful to behold.

“Well, what are we waiting for?!” he asked, turning as they raced down the hall to the library.

The room, clearly still in its semi-disorganized state, told Rey that wherever Ben was working on his secret project, it wasn't in here.

He pulled the first data disk from the box to jam it in the holo-projector and stopped dead in his tracks, Rey slamming into him.

“What-”

Ben's only answer was to turn to face her and hold out the gleaming data disk to her.

The holographic label on it had only two names, but the sight of them made Rey's blood instantly run cold.

_Sheev Palpatine_

Rey took in a shaky breath and gently took the disk from Ben.

“It's too important to not see what's on it.” she said, determined. Ben nodded, matching her resolve as she popped the disk in the slot and sat at his side on the floor as the projector whirred to life.

Just in case, he set a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

But what they saw took them completely by surprise, for it was not the shriveled stoop of Chancellor Palpatine that appeared before them, but a miniature projection of the radiant form of a very pregnant Padmé Amidala.

They exchanged bewildered glances with each other.

“ _It is the seventh month in the year 19 BBY. My name is Senator Padmé Amidala and what follows are the secret files of one Chancellor Sheev Palpatine._ ” she said, gaze fiery and purposeful.

“ _I have reason to suspect after months of deception and manipulation, the Chancellor has betrayed the Republic. What Anakin has told me-_ ” her voice broke and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat to continue “ _means that we've maybe already lost. Know that if I die or am imprisoned as a result of taking Palpatine's personal files and sealing them away for their protection, I took them at such great personal expense for the sake of preserving truth, and the Republic, and to expose Palpatine for his crimes so that his shadow may never darken our galaxy again._ ”

And though her voice was filled with vigor, her last sentence fell flat as hope left her eyes.

All the same, Rey could only grin in Ben's direction – the unspoken conversation and pride in his lineage plain in his glowing gaze. He clearly had chosen the right role-model.

The file switched over, and a middle-aged Palpatine presented himself, stating his name and the year of Padmé's election to the thrown – face gently lined with the wrinkles of natural age, not yet twisted and deformed into something supernatural.

Rey was quick to remove the holographic tablet from her belt for the purposes of note-taking, marking the time and disk when anything significant was mentioned that might help their case, and Ben laid down on his stomach, settling in for a long stretch of detective work.

Before long, he was proven right.

There was hours upon hours of footage to comb through.

They eventually started sorting by date in the hope of finding more specific files, but their search was largely fruitless.

A lot of it was boring reports on the Senate's activities.

Some of it contained Palpatine brainstorming his numerous Executive Orders and nearly endless fail-safes, and cackling to himself in wicked delight.

But for all that it revealed about the complex web of the inner machinations of Sheev Palpatine's labyrinthine schemes – from his manipulation of the Trade Federation, the Separatists, the conversion of Dooku and the creation of Grievous – none of it could be submitted into evidence.

Palpatine spoke little about the generation of children he wished to turn – only of the might of the dark side, and the weakness of the light, exposing just how flawed and unbalanced his views had really been.

The hours stretched into a doldrums, and the plates from both their meals, brought up from the kitchen by Ben, compounded.

The sun had gone down a long while ago.

“ _Anakin is growing desperate – his desire to save his wife and cheat death is making him vulnerable._ ” the ancient Sith soliloquized, his miniature hologram donning his hood, the time marking the tail-end of their seventh hour watching the holos.

“ _As such, it is only a matter of time before he joins me on the Dark Side of the Force. But I must tread carefully, make him choose sides when he is at his most conflicted, and as far from his Master Obi-Wan as possible. I fear that bond for the time being is still too strong of one for Anakin to betray. I must make sure Obi-Wan is sent to Utapau and killed by Grievous quietly..._ ”

Rey was certainly glad she hadn't inherited her grandfather's gift for waxing philosophical, or she would've put all her friends to sleep with her long talks – not unlike how Ben was starting to nod off now.

She gently nudged his shoulder, careful his head didn't totter off the hand supporting it.

“Ben-”

He snorted and started into a state of alertness.

“No, no – I'm awake.” Rey sighed, pausing the holo as he sleepily rubbed his eyes.

“No, you're right. We've been at this for hours and we're getting nowhere. We should call it a night.”

He met her gaze, visibly distressed.

“Rey, this is too important. We can't let up now, the answers we've been looking for _have_ to be in that box.”

Rey opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off, pleading.

“Please Rey, let's see at least one more recording before we stop for the night.”

Rey turned to the box with a sigh, pulling out the last data disk from the box – the only one they hadn't yet reviewed some piece of the footage from.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“This one isn't Palpatine's!” she declared.

“What?” he exclaimed.

She turned the label to face him, eyes alight.

“It's your grandmother's!”

She slotted in the disk with renewed purpose, more enthusiastic than she'd been for hours. The projection flared to life showing Padmé as Rey had never seen her – with a flat stomach, not yet baring twins.

“ _My name is Padmé Amidala, the year is 22 BBY-_ ” she began

“The year she married Anakin,” murmured Ben, distracting Rey for a moment.

“ _and what follows is...well...frankly something a bit eccentric. While on my leave from the Galactic Senate that..._ ” she trailed off and flushed beautifully “ _might become extended, who's to say,_ ” she said, laying an affectionate hand on her stomach.

“ _I have decided to take up a new field of study – to become as objective a scholar as I can...in the Force._ ”

Ben and Rey's jaws hit the floor simultaneously.

“ _What follows are the documented conclusions I have drawn from my many hours of reading and research on the subject._ ” With a deep breath for courage, she began.

Padmé shared a great deal which they already knew. She theorized about the nature of the Force, as both life source and natural battery of all living things. She hypothesized about midi-chlorians, and their symbiotic role in all life. She discussed the nature of the Light and Dark sides, the Jedi and the Sith, though what she said about the Sith was naturally a bit more limited.

She'd have only had access to Light-side texts, most likely through Anakin.

But about half-an-hour in, they came across something peculiar.

“ _This is one of the oldest texts on record. Frankly, I don't know how Ani managed to get his hands on it for me, since he isn't even a Master yet, but, regardless...it tells a completely different story about the Force than any of other the Jedi texts explain._ ”

The mini-Padmé stood and began to pace around her ornate room in her suite on Coruscant, now much more visibly pregnant.

“ _It tells of three entities or elements of the Force – the Light and the Dark, but also...a balance. A third facet of the Force that none of the Jedi seem to teach – a Father that finds a middle-ground between the Son, or the Dark side, and the Daughter, or the Light side. As far as I can tell, this text doesn't even delineate between the Jedi and the Sith at all! It makes no distinction between the two groups as if..._ ”

Padmé's eyes lit up.

“ _As if the Jedi and Sith were once one unified faction – not perpetually at war with each other, but joined together, learning from each other – teaching one another about the Force as_ they _understood it, in constant dialogue with one another!_ ”

Padmé's triumphant smile slipped from her face.

“ _One can only imagine what the galaxy would be like if that were true..._ ”

In time however, this theory became Padmé's thesis; the more research she did, the more adamant she became that balance, not Light triumphing over Dark, was the true way of the Force.

On the day before she died, she left one final message.

“ _I worry about Anakin – where his path is leading and what will become of him, but I have faith. Please, if something should happen to me, show him my findings, my research on the Force. If anyone has the potential to learn from both the Light and the Dark and maybe bring balance to the Force – it's him! I know it. I don't know how, but I know it to be true._

“ _The way to bring peace to the galaxy – or at least, to the Force – is by striking a balance between two extremes – not drowning in one or becoming righteous in the other. The best Jedi have been able to succeed in life because they lived a humble, but human existence._ ” She smiled at the recording, if a little sadly.

“ _This concludes my findings._ ”

And the recording ended.

Rey ejected the disk, holding it in her hand like precious cargo.

“This – this could certainly help your case.” she said, hope swirling fiery in her soul.

Ben's eyes were hopeful, but his mouth was set in a grim line.

“You have to admit though, it is a bit of stretch. 'Yes, your honor, I should be acquitted and live because my grandmother, the furthest thing from a Jedi, after reading some texts decided that balance in the Force is necessary for there to be peace in the galaxy. If you kill me, there'll be an imbalance that favors the Light.'”

“'And, history will repeat itself, and the New Republic will meet the same fate as the Old, the same fate that Luke Skywalker did!'” Rey contributed, cutting off his sarcastic tirade (if none-too-enthusiastic, he was tired after all).

“It could certainly help.” she said.

Ben sighed, meeting her slight smile.

“Okay, send it off to Dameron, then.” he said, rising to his feet and stretching before heading out of the room.

“And where do you think you're going?” she teased, a guess already formed in her mind. His playful chuckle confirmed her suspicions.

“To get a bit of work done on my project before the day ends – I did spend most of it playing detective with you after all!”

He was already out the door and heading down the hall.

Rey giggled at his playfulness, mind alive with curiosity and racing with guesses as to this possible surprise. All the same, she set to work transferring Padmé's research to Poe over the long-distance comms, with specific instructions attached on how they could use it to defend Ben as evidence at his official trial.

The message was long and wordy, and nearly another hour passed before Rey was done. She stood and stretched and headed for the bedroom – her mattress was calling her.

Passing by the generator room, she heard some rather loud clangs coming from within.

Ah! So that's where he was hiding.

She just barely resisted the temptation to reach across their bond and sneak a peak at his activities with the thought that he was doing it all for her, and it'd be that much sweeter if it was really a surprise.

At any rate, he wasn't fixing the generator – they'd repaired it with the Force in their mad rush of renovations yesterday.

She slipped into her bedroom and into the walk-in closet to change.

She remembered to close the door this time.

Rey's mind started to wander as she searched for a clean sleeping shift among the rack of sleep-wear.

He was probably hard on work at forging something, if the sounds, familiar from the Jakku marketplace, were any indication.

It was likely hard, physical work. He'd probably be all hot and sweaty when he emerged and called it a night.

And shirtless too.

A warm tremor coursed through her and she shuddered.

“ _I did promise myself I'd try tonight, didn't I?_ ” Rey thought, her mind turning naughty as she bit her bottom lip. “ _But how to get him on the same page without asking directly?_ ”

Her fingers fluttered over the linen and chemise hanging off the rack and spotted her prize.

She jumped when she heard him suddenly enter the room.

“I'm going to hop in the shower, Rey! I'll be out in a quick minute!” he yelled through the door.

“Okay!” she yelled back, and before she could lose her nerve, took the sleeping shift off the rack, tugged off her ivory romper, underclothes and bindings, and slipped it on, freeing her hair from it's triad prison.

The shift was a creamy and delicate thing, with a plunging neckline and few flattering layers of flowy fabric layered around her hips and across her waist, belted with a bit of rope – just managing to cover her pelvis and buttocks while leaving her legs thinly draped in the fluttering cloth.

The same could not be said for the top of the shift. Her nipples were practically showing, slightly peaked under the thin, cream colored wrap-top.

That and her heart was practically beating out of her chest.

It wasn't too forward, was it?

She didn't want to scare him, either, just...entice him?

Stars, she had no idea was she was doing!

Rey tried to slow her frantic heart and took a few deep, calming breaths.

It was okay to be nervous, it was perfectly normal to be nervous.

He likely would be too, once he picked up on her scheme, and there was going to be a learning curve for both of them. This was the first time – not the only time.

It was going to be awkward and weird and hopefully wonderful in its own way, and that was all perfectly fine.

She was at peace, centered. Rey smiled lightly.

All the same, the gentle knock at the door nearly made her jump out of her skin.

“Sun-rey?” he asked, low voice lilting with concern “Are you alright in there? I can sense a lot of fear through the bond.”

She took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

“I'm okay, Ben,” she answered, and as her knees were starting to shake a bit, she settled herself on a poof, if just for a moment. “You can come in if you like – I'm dressed.” Rey said, forcing a bit of composure into her voice to cover up the half-lie.

“Okay,” Ben said, confused, the doorknob turning.

He was in his navy pajamas as he pulled open the door. His expression instantly snapped from one of concern to a deep, rosy flush at the sight of her shift.

Rey stood, hesitant but determined to not psyche herself out, hoping that she looked demure and sweet hugging her elbow, even if she only felt it halfway.

She bit her lip compulsively and met his eyes.

“Oh...” he managed to say, leaned against the door-frame, neck flaring red as he stared at her adoringly, drinking in the sight of her, making her flush too.

“I think I understand the reason for your nerves now.” he said with a chuckle.

She wandered vaguely closer to him, emboldened by his loving gaze, her side of the bond warm and vibrating with a sweet longing all her own, and he found himself struggling to catch his breath.

She stretched up and gave him the sweetest kiss, running her fingers through his raven hair.

Rey found her voice as she pulled apart from him, her breath warming his lips.

“If you'd like to, I'm more than ready now,” she whispered, and pressed another kiss against his jaw.

“I'd be delighted to, sun-rey.” he breathed, voice already husky, and making her warm deliciously.

And though her voice was light and breathy, keeping it low helped along its intended affect.

“I want you to make love to me, Ben.”

Her words made his knees go weak.

He wrapped her up his arms and kissed her arduously, slinging an arm under her legs and carrying her out of the closet and over to their giant bed with ease.

He laid her down and kissed her breathless, kneading her mouth with fiery purpose.

“Tell me what you need, starlight, please. I want to make this as enjoyable for you as possible.” he mumbled against her mouth, his heat growing with each passing second “If I'm going too fast slow me down, if I'm being too dense, speed me up.” he said, chuckling at himself.

His laughter made her giggle too.

“I will Ben. But tell me what you want as well. I want to please you, too.” He breathed out a laugh, aura flaring scarlet with arousal.

“The last thing you're in danger of doing, my kyber, is not pleasing me.” He went back to his ministrations, dipping his tongue into her mouth and letting them play and caress one another.

_Run your hands all over me,_ she requested sweetly in his mind.

_Yes, ma'am,_ he replied, chuckling warmly in his throat.

His hands wandered, taking their sweet time kneading her hips and thighs with his fingers, and caressing her delicate breasts.

The little keen of pleasure she gifted him with at his touch sent his head reeling.

“Stars, Rey, you have no idea how much I adore your little noises,” he said, pulling away and brushing his nose against hers, making her laugh.

“I love your groans too, my knight.” she said, and to emphasize her point, she seductively clawed his fingers into his hair and kissed him deep, forcing a moan up from his chest.

When her stomach flipped, he felt it too.

They pulled apart, trying to catch their breath.

A mischievous glint entered Rey's gaze. She grasped the bottom of his shirt.

“This needs to come off, right now.” she said, making him throw back his head in laughter as he lifted his arms and she tugged off the shirt, tossing it aside.

He hummed in pleasure as she ran her fingers tantalizingly over the rippling muscles of his chest, the wide plains of his pecks.

“Guess I was right. You do prefer me shirtless.” She silenced his teasing with a sloppy kiss, clambering into his lap.

She couldn't help the huffing moan that escaped her mouth as her hips slid over his – his heat was so intense and insistent and so exactly what she needed.

He smiled a bit proudly at her pleasure, but then ducked his head shyly and started kissing her neck.

It was like electric shock, sending a jolt of pleasure straight down to her center.

“ _Ben!_ ” she breathed, biting her bottom lip as he kneaded her neck with his mouth.

_You like that, sun-rey?_

She giggled, but the sound devolved into a moan.

“Yes, Ben, I like that very much.”

His arousal swirled, dark and deep in his aura as she tangled her fingers in his messy hair, and a mischievous thought flitted through her mind. Leaning forward, she attempted to give him the same treatment.

He chuckled in pleasure, but her kisses didn't have the same effect on him until she accidentally grazed his neck with her teeth in her eagerness.

“ _Ah!!_ Rey!” he grunted, gently pushing her from his lap, his hands on her waist

“Sorry!” she said, hands shooting up to cover her mouth. He giggled.

“No, Rey, you didn't hurt me! It's just – well, I, um...almost...” She blushed.

“Oh – too good then?” she said lowering her hands. He snickered adorably, making a laugh burble up from her too.

“Yes, just a little bit too good.”

Their laughter calmed, and the lust for her on his side of the bond became palpable again.

“Can I touch you?” he murmured, leaning down for a kiss again.

The jolt of pleasure at the thought made the idea almost impossible to refuse.

_Yes,_ she breathed, and pulling away from the kiss, turned in his lap and gently pulled aside her skirts, spreading her legs to make everything easily accessible.

“Give me your hands, I'll guide you.” she whispered, the moment having turned suddenly heady and sacred.

He nodded shakily, running his hands lovingly over her breasts and down her stomach before letting them rest lightly on her thighs.

She rested her hands on top of his and slowly guided his fingers down.

He started when she teased her lips apart and his fingers grazed her wet center.

“Sorry, it's just surprising,” he said, blushing “you're warmer and wetter than I would've guessed.”

She smiled at him softly.

“So...I like to start sort of slow, swirling my fingers like this,” she demonstrated the motion, the soft caresses of unfamiliar fingers exciting her immediately.

“And it's good to vary the motions – go up and down, or side-to-side after a few minutes of the same thing.” she continued, guiding him through each.

“And – I don't mind going well fast once I've gotten more excited-” she flushed and they both chuckled “but still, keep your touches quick but light. And this,” she said, drawing his fingers up to her sensitive pearl “is the most pleasurable part, but only if you touch it very lightly, almost indirectly.”

She lead him through the circular caress that could drive her mad at the right pace, resulting in a compulsive, languid sigh passing over her lips.

“So...like this?” he said, gently taking the lead and touching her just so, the circles tighter and faster, but the pressure of his touch just the same.

To his absolute delight, her head fell back against his shoulder.

“ _Yes!_ ” she moaned softly, his calloused fingers providing wonderful friction against her wet center, as pleasure bloomed in her aura like a sweet blossom.

His arousal rocketed to new heights at the sight of her laid so bare and so wanting, his ministrations drawing forth a chorus of moans and whines. Her noises surprised her too, she couldn't have imagined his touch feeling this good at the start.

She was like a star in his hands, aura radiating heat and light and growing hotter by the second.

“Ben – slow down a little!” she gasped, the pleasure becoming a bit too much to bare. His fingers slowed, and his circles grew wider and deliciously tender in their pressure.

She writhed, burying her face in his neck.

“ _Oooooh, Ben!_ ” she moaned, making him burn up.

He experimented and varied his motions, paying careful attention to her aura and her mewls to see what she liked.

It almost seemed as if he couldn't go wrong – she never chastised him or told him he was being too rough. She kept singing his praises and making him drown in his lust, his fingers slick with her desire.

Force, and now she was _panting._

“Are you getting close, Rey?” he breathed, though it was more of a growl. He couldn't help it – he was aching.

“Yes!!” she cried, as his ministrations sped up again, wandering experimentally up to her sensitive nub, taking great care to be extra gentle.

She cried out and started to shake, intoxicating him.

“ _Ben, stop!! I'm going to-!_ ” she keened.

His lips caressed the shell of her ear and whispered to her.

“ _I'll catch you, Rey, let go. I promise I'll catch you._ ”

The effect was nearly instantaneous. She whined and shuddered and came undone in his arms, yelling his name, the rippling aftershocks of her release like the shock waves of a bio-quake in their bond.

Without question, in this moment, she was the sexiest thing he'd ever laid eyes on.

He guided her gently back down from her high, slowing his strokes, and before he had the chance to ask if she'd liked it, her lips were crushing his.

_Oh Ben, that felt wonderful..._

His aura smiled.

_I wanted to make sure you got some pleasure out of tonight. I know I won't able to last as long as you once I get inside._

_If you get inside_ , Rey countered, nervously running her hands down the outside of his trousers and making him grunt.

_How are you ever going to fit?_

He chuckled, releasing her lips sweetly.

“Likely, very slowly and carefully. But I don't imagine it'll be much too difficult – I was made for you after all.” he said, gazing at her adoringly.

She gaze darkened headily.

“Your turn, smuggler.” she hissed, nipping at his lips as she tugged at the waist band of his pants. He lifted his hips to help her out, smiling lasciviously, and his pants came off in a rustle of fabric.

Rey's eyes widened at the sight of him bare, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. He was huge and hard and red, and a thin liquid was starting to pool on his tip.

He smiled at her gently, taking her hand.

“It's okay, starlight, it won't bite.” he joked, making her snort with laughter and relax a hair.

She returned his smile, both shy and seductive.

“Show me how you like it?”

Heart pounding in his chest, her lead her supple hand to wrap around his length, firm and tender all at once.

“Gently up and down to start,” he murmured, quite breathily, leading her hand in smooth strokes that tugged at his skin and teased him, little pleasurable tingles shooting up his body.

They read as delighted little jolts of lightning in their bond.

Rey sucked in a breath, her desire plain.

“Your pleasure feels much different than mine.” He chuckled, knowing what she meant, having felt the strength of her release – deep and shuddering and strange to him, but no less wonderful when it caressed his senses, fierce and sweet and heady.

“You can grip me a bit tighter now,” he muttered, demonstrating the slight twist he liked to incorporate into his own ministrations, waxing his head and releasing her hand to pleasure him on her own.

His hungry groan left her positively sopping wet.

“ _Force_ , Rey that's good!” he growled, weak to her touches as he had to lean back on his arms to keep himself upright.

“And...if I go a bit faster?” Rey asked, curious and experimental, increasing the pace of her hand.

His moan sent hot tingles rippling up her whole body.

“ _Yes, Rey,_ just like that!” he huffed, trying in vain to keep his head as the pleasure assaulted him in wave after wave. He could feel himself beginning to crest to his peak, her hands were so skilled.

He suddenly grabbed her hand and slowed her down, though his voice in her mind whined terribly at the stopped flow of pleasure.

“Can't I take you all the way?” Rey asked, just a bit mischievous.

He was incredibly flattered by her eagerness.

“I don't want to make you wait to get a second rise out of me to be able to see how I feel in you.” he explained, leaning down to kiss her neck again, playful and teasing and delightfully pleasurable all at once.

She giggled, biting back a moan as he nibbled her neck.

“I see...” she breathed, as he pulled away from her.

He stroked his hands up her arms and gently slipped his fingers under the satin straps of her top.

“Now, let's see what you look like,” he said, slipping them off her shoulders as she blushed demurely at the admiration in his hazel eyes.

If he'd stared at her in a ballgown, it was nothing compared to how he gazed at her when the chemise fell off her shoulders and was tugged off her hips, leaving her sitting completely bare on the bed.

He compulsively ran his hands over her shoulders, down her sides, over her hips, her thighs, her stomach, brushing by her breasts, admiring each and every soft, smooth inch of her.

“You're breathtaking.” he murmured, gazing at her with so much love in his eyes she thought her heart might burst.

She figured it was only right to attempt to return the complement.

But when she tried, she found her diaphragm stuttering with laughter instead.

“And you, frankly, are terrifying!”

His head collapsed on her shoulder, half with embarrassment, half with shared laughter.

“I'm sorry but you are – all muscular and huge, not to mention tall!” she continued, fighting through her chuckles. She played with the curling hair at the nape of his neck, a blush coloring her cheeks again.

“But also terribly handsome and utterly sexy,” she added, biting her lip as his drool-inducing corded arms surrounded her.

He nuzzled her neck and gave it a sloppy kiss in response.

“I'll gladly take that,” he murmured, coming up to gaze at her.

A sliver of fear seemed to enter his stare as they looked at one another.

He bunched his lips to one side of his mouth.

“Well...would you still like to try?” he asked, huffing uncertainly.

She nodded, without hesitation.

“Yes, Ben, I would.” she said, though her eyebrows scrunched together with uncertainty “Um – how should we-?”

“Lift up a little, sit on your knees. I'll get under and you can ease yourself onto me.” he instructed gently. “Better that you take the reigns this first time.”

Rey laughed nervously.

“Even if I no more idea of what I'm doing than you do?” He shrugged adorably.

He laid down on his back and she moved to straddle him, heart pounding in her chest as her center came to rest wetly against his hard length, the electric contact making them both gasp a bit.

“Would you like me to touch you a bit more before you try, to help you relax?” he asked, so sweet in his concern.

“I think that would be a good idea,” Rey said, sitting up on knees so he could reach her. His fingers were there in a moment, swirling her fear away with the ebb and flow of pleasure, her musky, sweet scent reaching his nostrils again.

She smiled at his touch and moaned as he teased her nub oh-so-gently.

“ _Be-en!_ ” she whined softly, begging for more as her hips rocked against his fingers, making him twitch pleasurably and desire to take her higher.

“Can I...?” he asked vaguely, the request made clear as his fingers gently nudged against her entrance.

She nodded.

“But be gentle – I don't touch myself there that often. It's never really felt that good to me.”

Ben found this statement puzzling as he gently pushed his index finger inside of her, the walls of her canal clinging tight to him as she groaned and her aura flared teal-peach – a combination of discomfort and pleasure.

“Maybe...that's because you never found-” he muttered abstractly, searching within for bit of flesh that was rougher than the rest.

He knew exactly when he'd rubbed against it because she cried out, her head thrown back.

“ _Oh Stars-!_ ”

“-there's your g-spot...” he concluded, his voice a low murmur.

“How – how did you know where to find that?!” she gasped, still drunk off the shot of pleasure.

He had never blushed as much as he did now.

“I'll give you two guesses as to who told me.”

Rey turned scarlet.

“ _Han?!_ ” she exclaimed behind her cupped hands.

To her horror, he shook his head.

She screamed into her hands, sharing in his embarrassment.

“Well, someone had to teach me something!” he exclaimed, red-faced “I told you, I'm completely new to this!”

She silently reminded herself to either thank Leia later, or forget this entire exchange had happened to begin with.

“It doesn't matter,” she muttered, dropping her hands with a smile. “Just...please do that again...”

Ben grinned at her impishly and stroked inside her again, making her mewl with desire.

She gazed down at him, eyes dark with want.

“Keep going,” she whispered, his long fingers pleasing her in spot she'd never been able to reach.

He complied, stroking his finger in and out of her, adding a second to help her stretch a bit, hitting that spot again and again.

Her walls squeezed down on his fingers harder, her pulse already starting to flutter as she bounced back against him, moaning and keening, her eyes squeezed tight.

“BEN!! Oh _kriff that feels so good!_ ” she cried, nearing another release.

She would've just kept teasing herself on his fingers, but despite the flood of exquisite pleasure, she could feel how badly he was aching with need, his arousal going unaddressed.

Rey gradually slowed his movements and eventually pulled his finger out of her, settling back on his hips.

“That's enough,” she gasped, trying to ease down from the high.

She took a few deep, calming breaths and finally, meeting his eyes, lifted herself up above him.

He placed his large, supportive hands firmly under her rump.

“Go as slow as you need, starlight. I promise I won't drop you.” he reassured, giving her a little comforting and playful squeeze.

She nodded, grinning and taking one more breath.

“Here goes nothing,” she murmured, taking him in her hand and starting to guide him in, inch by inch.

Just a little ways in and her gasp of pain could've snapped his heart in two – he almost went completely soft at the sound.

“Rey?!” he exclaimed, but she just shook her head, her resolve firm. She gave herself a moment and then kept going, taking him further and further in – the stretch uncomfortable and unfamiliar.

As good as her walls felt around him, with her face scrunched up in pain like that above him, Ben could hardly pay attention to the pleasurable squeeze.

Slowly, slowly, she sunk down to the bottom of his hilt, hips meeting, his shaft buried completely within her.

“Give me – a moment.” she said, gasping. Ben could only nod numbly, eyes wide and round with concern.

In a minute or so, Rey caught her breath, and the pain slowly ebbed away as she adjusted to the feeling.

She experimentally lifted her hips just slightly and settled back down.

The gasp of pleasure from both of them was electric.

“Ben, you feel terribly good,” Rey said, biting her lip in a way that drove him wild.

He could only stutter out a sigh.

“I don't know what I was expecting but – it certainly wasn't for the fit to be this _perfect_.” he said, voice husky with need.

“It is,” she murmured with a smile. Rey leaned down to fix him with a loving kiss, and began to slowly rock her hips up and down.

His groan was guttural and made her sex drip with heat, while her soft moan made him twitch needily inside of her.

Her ministrations gradually reached a steady pace as she began to bounce up and down, stroking her walls with him.

At this angle, he was just teasing her g-spot, making her gasp and sigh with pleasure, little golden sparks in her aura.

Ben, meanwhile, was roiling in agony.

Every stroke was pleasuring him raw, slick and completely thorough as it sent jolt after jolt of pleasure up his spine.

Any moment of softness he'd experienced was long gone.

“ _Rey_ -” he managed to grunt out, swimming in pleasure “ _if you want – to go faster – to get closer, now would be the time_.”

He keened, voice high and needy in his throat – the shot of pleasure is his aura silver and sharp.

“It's not the speed,” Rey huffed, “it's not the right angle to reach that spot.” she said, slowing.

He paused, gasping and puzzling.

“Maybe if we flip over?” he suggested, moving his hands from their iron grip on her hips to support her back.

She blushed at the request, but nodded.

He chuckled.

“Lean forward, sun-rey,” he said, and when she was closer to flush with his chest, he pressed his palms to her back and rolled them over with a twist of his hips.

Her back against the bed, her body now beautifully flush beneath him on the burgundy sheets, he adjusted his hips slightly so he could stroke more firmly against her sensitive front wall.

He gripped her hips gently and met her eyes as she moved her hands to cling to his wrists.

“Ready?”

“Yes,” she smiled, eyes sparkling, and every inch of his being cried out with love for her.

He eased himself nearly out of her and slid back in.

Her moan was music to his ears.

“ _Yes, just like that!_ ”

And with little preamble, he began to thrust his hips against her, pace steady but insistent.

Their bond was alive with fire and pleasure and light, zinging and pinging back and forth their shared passion and desire.

Rey kept moaning his name over and over, hips rocking in tandem with his as every stroke pleasured that spot within her, sending her mind reeling as her walls squeezed faster and faster.

“ _OH REY!_ ” Ben cried out, hardly able to contain himself with her walls squeezing him so, milking every drop of pleasure out of him, to the point where he was numb to any other sensation. “ _Force, I'm not going to be able to take this much longer!_ ” he yelled, gritting his teeth as he tried to stamp out his rising orgasm.

Her moan and burst of pleasure were like solar flares in his head – blinding white and gorgeous.

“ _Go faster, Ben! Give me all you have! I'm close!_ ” she cried, hardly able to keep her eyes open, the pleasure was so intense.

He didn't need to be told twice.

He pounded into her, heated and hard, stroking her walls and chasing his end.

He could feel her pleasure hitching higher and higher in their bond, each pulse of light more intense than the last. She screamed.

Then she crested over her precipice – her light exploding in his mind.

“BEN!!!”

“ _REY!!!_ ”

They managed to come undone at the same moment, shaking and shuddering and becoming scattered amongst the stars – floating in a nebulous sea of pure pleasure, every nerve alive with it. The aftershocks that coursed through them were the collapsing radiation of a supernova, and they clung desperately to each other, the only physical things in the wide galaxy.

They were light, they were whole.

They were beautifully, utterly one.

With a shared moan that licked their bodies like wildfire, they crashed back down to earth in each other's arms, trembling and kissing each other, completely breathless.

_Stars above, Rey, I love you,_ Ben said, his essence glowing.

_I love you, too,_ she said, so glimmering and vulnerable and beautiful in his mind.

Their lovely peace was only broken for a moment when Ben felt something wet on his cheeks.

He pulled apart from her, eyes wide and searching, panicked.

“Sun-rey, why are you crying?”

But he calmed when she shed a brilliant smile along with her tears.

“I don't think I've ever felt so connected to another person before.” Rey said, laughing in delight. “Ben...I love you so much!” she said, stretching up to kiss him as he gently eased out of her, her tenderness making him shed a few affectionate, love-struck tears himself.

He held her tight in his arms and kissed her back, trying to requite every bit of sterling, stardust love that was sparking along in the Force around her, filling him and warming him as he'd done with her, physically.

They rose to their feet, shaky and a bit shy and cleaned up their small mess on the bed as best they could.

Ben cringed with guilt and realization as they lay back down together, not bothering to dress again, lights out now in the room as they let their exhausted bodies rest after an active night, curled tight against each other.

“I didn't think to pull out. I didn't even hesitate.” he murmured, gently rubbing her shoulders.

“I didn't want you to.” Rey whispered back, nuzzling his neck.

He sighed heavily, the thought sending his heart racing.

“And if we conceived a child tonight?” he muttered. Rey pulled away and met his scared hazel eyes.

“Then we'll deal with that together too.” Her eyes glittered playfully. “Personally, mediocre role models aside, I think you'd make a great father.”

This, at least, made him laugh.

“Not that I wouldn't also be clueless and terrified about being a mother.” Rey confessed.

The smile that followed, however, was iridescent.

“But I would want to make a life like that with you, some day.” The kiss she gave him was love incarnate.

“Stars, I think I'd want that too.” he murmured, the thought that she would want to start a family with him warming him and lifting him up more than he could say.

She looked positively wonder-struck.

“With you by my side, I feel like I could do anything. We could take on the entire galaxy together.” she mumbled against his mouth.

He buried his face in her soft, mousy hair as he began to drift off, soul curled beside hers, exactly where it belonged.

The light to his dark, his destiny.

His future wife.

“We already did,” he murmured in her ear, making her laugh the last sound Ben Solo heard before drifting off into wonderful, peaceful sleep.


	21. XX.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey continue their detective work, closer than ever before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second-to-last chapter is a shorty so I'm posting both today. Huzzah!

XX.

Rey Skywalker woke to a bright sunny morning – and a bed lacking a necessary, second, warm body.

She sat up, naked and panicked, until she saw Ben had left a note for her on the bedside table on her data pad.

_Poe saw your message – sent Padmé's research along to the Galactic Senate with his “perfectly-worded” argument._

_It's been accepted into evidence._

_Breakfast is waiting for you downstairs._

_I'm finishing up my project if you need me._

_Love you, sun-rey_

She calmed at his words, smiling and rising from bed, stretching out the little unfamiliar aches from the previous night's activities.

She showered and dressed in a simple, flowing white dress, leaving her hair loose except for the single, small ponytail at the top-back to keep it in order.

She ignored the persistent clanging from the generator room as she passed by on her way to breakfast.

A plate of piping hot pancakes with indigo berries baked into the batter was waiting for her at her spot on the table, along with a mug of tea she couldn't place the smell of.

One sip, however, and she was smiling brilliantly.

“A special blend of spiced black tea...” she mused, flushing warmly at the memory as she sat and ate her fill.

By the time she'd finished eating, she could hear his footsteps plodding down the stairs.

He was cleaning his hands of soot with a towel, cream-colored sleeves rolled up to his elbows over top of dark brown trousers.

Ben drunk in the sight of her like goddess who'd made planet-fall by mistake.

“Good morning, starlight.” he smiled, essence alight with a brilliant, glittering kind of light she hadn't really seen before.

She returned his smile, her heart full to bursting as she rose from her chair.

“Finished with your secret project?”

He nodded, a glint of pride in his gaze, depositing the towel in the dish sink.

“Yes, I think so. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow morning.”

She pouted and he had to chuckle and blush.

“Why not today?” she whined.

“Because today is our last full day – and we still need to find the lynch-pin for my trial.”

Rey started, counting the days in her mind, her expression turning grim.

“You're right, we'd best get a move-on.”

He nodded, matching her determined look, as he turned started back towards the stairs.

Rey's little lovesick heart took off at a breakneck pace.

“Ben, wait!” she exclaimed, and before they could delve back into the severity of detective work, she sprinted towards him and leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist as he held her up in his strong arms.

She kissed him rapturously – her essence bursting with her adoration of him, her Force declaring “ _I love you, I love you, I love you,_ ” in a repeated, rhythmic mantra in his mind, his aura swirling and sparkling and beaming, echoing all her wonderful declarations back to her in kind.

* * * * *

“I still say we'd have our best luck looking in the latest data disk, from after the Clone Wars.” Rey puzzled, after about two hours of them sorting through footage.

“After Vader's creation?” Ben mused from his spot on the floor, the question mostly rhetorical as he stared at the ceiling.

He sighed.

“I guess it can't hurt to try.” he said, his gaze uncertain.

Rey popped in the disk and tried one of the last few files.

“ _At last, my wife has produced a child._ ” spoke the gravelly, prideful voice of Sheev Palpatine, making Rey's heart leap into her throat and her head whip up to stare at recording.

“ _The Force has gifted me a son, who shall continue my hallowed, dark legacy!_ ”

The file turned over, and Rey and Ben watched, enraptured.

“ _The years pass and I grow...disappointed. My son shows little propensity for the Force, and no desire to follow my Dark teachings._ ” he snarled. “ _His midi-chlorian count was low from birth, but I imagined, with faith and instruction as adamant as mine he would rise to the occasion! This it seems – was folly!_ ” he hissed “ _No doubt a result of the weak, simple woman who was his mother!! Fortunately...I remain optimistic. My son is on the verge of becoming a man himself. Soon, he will be old enough to seek out a wife and become a father himself. Though I am impatient, time is on my side..._ ” His mouth curled into a dark frown.

“ _Perhaps the next generation will prove more useful..._ ”

The file turned over again.

Bodies.

Bodies everywhere, mountains and piles of innocent bodies thrown in together, gathered in haste, murdered in a fit of cold rage.

And Palpatine sat atop them, tense, his anger just barely relieved by the atrocious, unspeakable act.

“ _The granddaughter my son has given me has been hidden where my eyes cannot see!!_ ” Though Palpatine could be terrifying in his loud rages, he was much worse to hear in this quiet, whispering, hissing, stewing state – like watching a pot about to boil over.

“ _She is completely concealed in the Force, and that IGNORANT bounty-hunter has lost the location of her hiding place with her parent's deaths._ ” He stood, gathering his robes about him dramatically.

“ _But...no matter. The Dark Side of the Force has revealed the way forward to me in visions. Soon, a boy I've been carefully watching over since before his birth will join us in darkness. The Force promises me he will prove just as formidable as my granddaughter could have been, as he is the son of the younger of the Skywalker twins._ ”

The dyad's eyes grew as wide as saucers.

“ _This boy is...not unlike my misplaced granddaughter – it's quite like the poetry of the ancient Je'daii order of long ago. She has a heritage of great darkness within her,_ ” he grinned, “ _but was a product of_ light” he spat “ _He will be much the same, with the blood of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker in his veins alike._ ”

His yellow eyes turned to pierce the recording equipment, haughty and cold.

“ _It has been my task for nearly two decades to cast my shadows about this boy. I was with him always – from his first nightmare, and shall remain 'til his last breath. I followed him and whispered in his ear. With a decisive betrayal, I will tempt him to the darkness, and given a bit more time and careful effort, he should come to me willingly._ ”

He placed the tips of his fingers together, deep in thought.

“ _Born the child of the Galaxy's greatest heroes,_ ” he said, spitting the word “heroes” like a foul curse. “ _Yes...fame followed him everywhere he went from the moment he took breath. His childhood was tumultuous and burdened by it, and by the weight of a wavering love betwixt his parents. It made him_ weak _._ ” he grinned. 

“ _Yes, quite visible and quite susceptible to the pull of my invisible strings he was._ ” He cackled, high and thin.

“ _It is only a matter of time before young Solo is_ mine.” he declared.

The recording ended.

Ben and Rey turned slowly to face each other, eyes wide.

“...An actual recording...” Rey began brokenly “...of Palpatine...saying how he was planning to manipulate you all along – even before you were born...”

Ben's laugh was light, stuttering, elated.

“I think we found our lynch-pin!” he whispered.

She shrieked with joy and leapt into his arms. He was on his feet in a second, spinning her around and around, feet flying, the room blurring around them completely.

They immediately selected the holo and sent it off to Poe, auras singing with elation.

Poe received their message and commed them almost immediately.

“ _You found it!!_ ” he screamed from the other end of the line.

“Yes – we did!!” Ben yelled, still in utter disbelief.

“ _How did you guys do it?!_ ” he exclaimed, awe-struck.

“It was all Rey!” Ben said, gesturing her way. She guffawed.

“Oh please – we'd be nowhere if you hadn't found the cache in the first place!”

“But you found the right file!”

“And you got the box open!”

“-We _both_ got the box open, Rey!” he said, speech devolving into delirious laughter.

He scooped her up in his arms again, her feet kicking off the floor as she squealed with delight.

“ _Lucky for you, R2 also managed to find Leia's pre-mortem holo defending you_.” said Finn, coming into frame from off screen.

Rey's smile only grew wider.

“Really?! What was on it?!”

“ _Just about everything her ghost told the Rebel council and then some – it's pretty heartbreaking to listen to actually..._ ” said Poe, grimacing in sympathy.

“ _She takes sole responsibility for everything that happened to you, Solo. It seems like she blamed herself for losing you, right until the very end._ ” murmured Finn, voice downcast.

Ben shed a sad smile.

“That sounds about right.”

“ _All the same, I'd hold off celebrating just yet. The Senate still has to convene tomorrow to decide their verdict!_ ” Finn reminded them, holding up his hands defensively. He added a shrug, dropping them. “ _Albeit, I can't imagine they'd do anything other than clear Solo's name with evidence like this._ ”

“ _I'm sending them your footage right now._ ” said Poe, tapping away at the console and transmitting the data to the citadel on Coruscant. He looked up when he was done and winked at them, grinning. “ _Congrats you two!_ ”

“ _I'll congratulate you tomorrow when we come to pick you up._ ” said Finn, with a smile.

“See you then!” Rey said, grinning back and shutting off the comm, only for Ben to lean down and surprise her with a victory kiss.

Rey Skywalker naturally returned his sweetness with equal fervor.


	22. XXI.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey have some unexpected, but not unwelcome, visitors during their last day at the palace.
> 
> Ben reveals his secret project to Rey.

XXI.

Ben Solo woke to Nabooian sunlight streaming through the tall, crystal windows, casting the room in a warm, golden glow – now a familiar sight to him.

Sounds and smells and touches that were still just starting to become familiar greeted him too – the coo of a stirring moan, a nuzzle of a nose against his neck, a warm puff of breath against his cheek, the scent of honeysuckle in her soft hair as he kissed her head, the little goosebumps that formed on the skin of his bare beloved as he rubbed her arm.

But, despite still not being new, loving sensations, they were no less wonderful.

Ben moved slowly so he wouldn't wake her too roughly – he just needed to get hold of her data-pad and check for one thing.

He crossed his arm over his chest as he stretched to reach the holo-pad on the side table and just managed to grasp it in his fingers.

On it's glowing green surface was the blinking light of a single message from Poe, which he promptly opened.

It only contained six words.

_Ben Solo cleared of all charges._

He smiled up at the ceiling and abandoned the data-pad down on the bed beside him, idly stroking Rey's shoulder softly.

He turned his head to watch her, counting her lovely, deep breaths until her eyes fluttered open.

“Good morning,” she murmured sleepily, brown eyes gentle with her love, nuzzling closer for a kiss, lingering, sweet and warm.

“I'm a free man,” he murmured, stroking her cheek.

She didn't even look surprised, just smiled wider.

“Naturally – after all the trouble we went through, it's about time we had a moment's peace.” His eyebrows quirked up.

“The galaxy does work in mysterious ways,” he quirked, making her chuckle in the way he adored.

She cuddled into him, pressing another kiss against his lips, making him feel warm and tingly all over.

If his essence was capable of caressing her consciously, literally massaging his love into her Force, it did just that – treating his other-half to a bit of ethereal, honey-soaked sugar.

“Well, now that you're free, where do you want to go first?” Rey asked, sweetly stroking his jaw and cheeks with her thumbs.

He hummed as he pursed his lips in thought.

“I think the more pertinent question is, where do you want to go? – in being assigned to guard me, you've been in exile as much as I have.”

She laughed, catching onto his game.

“Oh really?”

“Yes!” he murmured, stroking her hip teasingly, “It's only fair that you should get to choose first – I've seem much more of the galaxy than you, after all.”

“And you'll pick the next one after that? And then I, and so on?” she said, her teasing tone making clear they were striking a deal.

“Yes, my love,” he purred, kissing her dotingly. “And so on until you've seen all the wonders the galaxy has to offer.”

She hummed in delight, pulling herself flush against his rippling, bare chest.

“That sounds perfect,” she said. She tapped her fingers lightly against his shoulder in thought. “And...after?”

He took a deep breath.

“And after, we'll decide where to put our temple.”

She sat up with a gasp, breasts bouncing, and slapped him playfully on the shoulder, making him yelp and rise himself.

“You're serious?!” she exclaimed, eyes wide with excitement.

“I'm...at least willing to try my hand at teaching the new generation.” he said, hugging his knees “After all, it's what my grandmother would have wanted, what all her research pointed to. You need me and I need you – we balance each other out.” he said with a shrug. “It's just as simple as that.”

Her aura glowed with joy and she buried her fingers in his hair, her heated kiss making him chuckle lasciviously.

“Rey Skywalker, are you trying to seduce me? This early in the morning – before breakfast?” he teased.

“ _You_ tried to seduce me first – to the dark side!” she countered, making him snort with laughter, winding his fingers in her soft locks and kissing her, open-mouthed.

The sound of a throat clearing echoed through the room and made them both shriek with surprise, scrambling to pull the covers up to their chests.

Luke and Leia's Force-ghosts had apparated into the room, but fortunately, with their backs to them, their hands even blocking their peripheral vision.

“We'll wait until you two are dressed,” said Luke, a bit stilted and awkward, refusing to turn even an inch in their direction.

Exchanging bewildered, laughter-filled glances with each other, Ben and Rey clambered out of bed and dressed for the day – Rey in ivory and Ben in navy.

They wandered downstairs for breakfast with the meager belongings they'd packed up the night before in metal packing crates, figuring they could talk with the spirits while they ate their last meal at the palace.

(They'd had a long debate about whether or not Rey could take the midnight blue ballgown with her. Ben had said that, since it suited her so perfectly, and given that it was his grandmother's palace, it would surely be fine – one ballgown surely wouldn't go amiss. But the last thing Rey had wanted to do was be perceived as a thief. After assuring her that he would get express permission for the gown to leave the palace from the Nabooian historical society, or whoever was in charge of the palace's closets, she stuffed the dress in her case.)

Luke and Leia commended them over eggs and toast.

“We just wanted to stop by and say how proud we are at how you handled the Knights and your shadows together,” Leia said, her praise so thorough and uncommon that both Rey and Ben flushed.

“Yes, not just their defeat, but the mercy you extended to Ánci and Cardo, and how balanced you were in working together.” Luke contributed “Defeating your demons could not have been easy.”

Ben shrugged.

“Honestly, the hard part was all the work we did beforehand. Forgiving myself and moving forward was the real challenge – killing Kylo was more of just...the final nail in the coffin.”

The twins nodded sagely in agreement, Rey smiling at him in admiration.

“Indeed,” said Luke “that being said, we also came to offer some advice for the future.”

“Master Luke, I thought you weren't allowed to reveal any secrets about the future to us.” Rey joked, making Ben snort.

Luke rolled his eyes.

“I'm not so sure I like the influence you've had on her, nephew,” griped Luke, but his mouth curled into a smile as he said it.

“This isn't much of a secret,” corrected Leia “It's just a bit of gentle instruction.”

“We advise that you stick together,” began Luke.

“Not that we honestly suspected you two of separating any time soon,” interjected Leia, making the two grin.

“But more than that,” continued Luke “we ask, for the sake of bringing balance to the Force, that you _both_ take on the task of teaching the next generation.”

“Yes,” affirmed Leia “it is vital in order to bring harmony to the galaxy that the future of the Jedi be instructed in both the Light, and the Dark. Not one more strongly than the other, but equally, mutually, by a pair who have known both sides intimately.”

“Now I know, Ben, that you may be a little hesitant-” Luke said, anticipating his nephew's retort.

“I was.” Ben interrupted “But after what I learned about Grandmother Padmé's findings, about the nature of the Force, and about...” he smiled his vampiric smile “how stubborn Rey can be,” she scoffed in mock indignation “and most importantly, about myself – I believe I am up to the task.”

Luke's bushy eyebrows rose in surprise.

“Oh.” he said “Well, alright then, that makes this much easier.”

“Let it be known – though this won't mean much in the land of the living – that if this is something you're in agreement on,” said Leia, pausing and looking to each for their affirmation. They exchanged a glance and nodded her way.

“We, posthumously, grant you the ranks of Jedi Master and Jedi Mistress, in order to allow you to take on your own padawans and spread the teachings of the Force.”

Rising to their feet, the two bowed their heads respectfully, elated.

“Best of luck to you both,” said Luke.

The twins atoms scattered, and they once again became one with the Force.

* * * * *

Rey and Ben stood at the entrance of the palace with the front doors wide open, awaiting Finn and Poe's arrival.

After a bit of deliberation, Rey had decided their first stop on their tour of the galaxy would be joining her friends on Coruscant and spending a little time with them, actually celebrating the end of the war and enjoying the pay-off for all their hard work.

“And maybe, with luck, I could attend a fancy dinner party with you on my arm,” she teased lightly, sitting on her metal, trunk-like suitcase across from Ben on his own.

Ben cringed at the thought, his childhood memories of stuffy suits and long hours spent on his feet not exactly fond ones.

“I don't know that I would make the most flattering accessory.” he quirked.

She giggled, incandescent.

“Oh please, you'd look positively dashing,” she said, pecking his cheek “A real prince.”

“Need I remind you, my kyber, I'm only one quarter royal.” he teased, leaning over to playfully knead her lips with his.

“And besides,” he whispered “I wouldn't be the one everyone would be staring at, starlight.”

She grinned, blushing gorgeously, and then out of the blue, remembered.

“Your secret project – I nearly forgot!” she gasped, eyes delightfully bright “You promised to show me today!”

He visibly stiffened.

“I suppose I did, didn't I?” he murmured, suddenly taking great interest in the tile floor.

She nudged his shoulder.

“C'mon, out with it! What is it?!”

He huffed out a quick breath.

“No time like the present,” he said, voice thin as he grasped her elbows and pulled her to her feet with him as he stood himself.

Rey cocked her head, both baffled and charmed.

His palms were sweaty as he grasped her hands in his.

“Sun-rey,” he began, chuckling nervously “I, um – I'm not exaggerating when I say this month in exile has been completely life-changing,” her smile quirked wider and he took courage, meeting her loving eyes with his own.

“Through all my difficulties, the residual effects of coming back to the light, you've been so patient and kind and understanding. You've helped me every step of the way, and I can't tell you how grateful I am for your help.”

“Of course, Ben, what else would I have done? I love you.” she said, giving his hands a gentle squeeze.

His tiny laugh was one of wonder.

“I know. And it's the most incredible gift the Force has ever given me – your love.” he said, making her pulse flutter with his sincere declarations.

“Ben, where are you going with this-”

“Rey Skywalker, it is my sincerest wish to always be by your side,” he murmured, the vulnerability in his tone making her breath catch.

“To wake every morning in your arms and to fall asleep in them each night. To assist you in whatever difficulties life throws your way and to lift up your burdens as you have eased me of mine. And, just to be clear, we don't have to settle on anything definite anytime soon,”

He drew in a deep breath.

“But all the same, because I love you – with all I am and all I have – I must ask...”

Clutching her hands tightly, he gently lowered himself to the ground until he was down on one knee.

Rey's eyes grew wide as dinner plates and her hand came up to cover her mouth as he pulled the wrought, curlicue, golden ring from his pocket – simple and elegant with a small, silvery, fresh-water pearl at its center.

“Will you marry me?” he asked, lips quirked in an adorable, hesitant smile.

The light of her soul catching fire gave away her answer before she even drew breath.

“ _Yes!_ ” she exclaimed, tearful and over-joyed, mopping at her cheeks and rocketing down to kiss him, wet and warm.

And kiss him, and kiss him, and kiss him, and kiss him.

He had to clumsily rise from the floor with their mouths still conjoined, lips molding to each other oh-so-sweetly.

In the pure act of joy that was slipping the ring onto her finger as few stray tears leaked from his eyes, and they barely even registered the warm wind whipping about their hair as the _Falcon_ touched down in the courtyard.

“How did you even find the means to make this?” Rey gushed, completely in awe.

“You'd be surprised how resourceful us Solos can be when we have our minds set on something.” he said, his cheeks starting to hurt from the smile he couldn't shake.

“A bit of gold from a gilded frame of a mirror we broke during the battle, a pearl dredged up from the lake, all forged together by the heat of my saber, and – there you have it.”

She fixed him with another breathtaking kiss.

“It's absolutely perfect. Thank you...” she mumbled against his lips.

He seized her in his arms and held her close enough that it threatened to crush her ribs. She returned the favor by digging her fingers into his shoulder blades.

“I love you,” he murmured into her neck, kissing the soft skin just under her ear.

“I love you too,” she breathed, small chest shaking with the strength of her emotions

“You realize I'm never letting go of you again?”

“Of course.”

Rey Skywalker left the planet of Naboo that afternoon, with much fanfare, surprise, and celebration as her friends aboard the _Falcon_ heard the news of Ben's proposal.

She would never again return.

...Given that she would henceforth be known only as Rey Solo.

The pair held each other tight aboard the ship as the stars whisked past the icy windows at unimaginable speeds, their energies mingling, silver melting into gold, mixing and melding, spreading and crossing, and amalgamating and harmonizing beautifully, until the passive observer couldn't tell where one began and the other ended.

And the Force looked on, and rejoiced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow, what a fantastic journey this has been!
> 
> Words cannot express how grateful I am for the warm welcome I received publishing on AO3 for the first time - for one of the most divisive fandoms on the internet, no less!
> 
> Truly, I am grateful for every click, kudos, and comment I received, and thank you all for joining me on this wild and wonderful ride. :)
> 
> I will be sure to return with more works in the future - likely for other fandoms, but who's to say what the muse may strike me with next!

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Star Wars is a massive universe, and there's a great deal of it I haven't seen. Keep in mind, I'm not here to break its rules entirely, but I'm no expert either.
> 
> It's not my first work, but it is my first published work. Thanks for stopping by!


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